The Conduit
by Dorlath
Summary: Naruto was born hundreds of years before canon, living that entire duration due to a tie to the biju that runs deeper than any jinchuriki. AU with an, obviously, quite strong Naruto.
1. The Good Old Days

**The Conduit**

**Foreword: **Please take note that this is a heavily AU story. It starts hundreds of years before Naruto canon. I will completely rewrite the lore around the biju to fit my story. The plot will shortly catch up to canon time, where most of the characters will still exist.

Only two of the characters from canon time will be placed in the past. One of course is Naruto, and the other will become obvious very soon. So just to make that clear in this story Naruto is not the child of Minato and Kushina. The chapters prior to catching up to canon are something of an extended prologue and will be written in a very different style without the breakneck pacing the prologue will have.

* * *

Naruto may have only been six years old, but he'd spent his entire life in the temple. So he could tell something was up today. The priests and the acolytes were practically abuzz. He'd never seen them half so frantic as they were now.

Nor was Naruto able to miss the number of looks he was given as they ran past. Unable to contain his curiosity, Naruto tugged at the robes of one of the younger acolytes, as the man was trying to scurry past.

"Where's my father?" Naruto asked him when he came to a stop.

"Shouhei-sama is very busy with preparations for the ritual," the white robed man answered. "But he'll be sending for you shortly.

"What ritual?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"You mean no one has told you?" the acolyte replied in disbelief. "You've been chosen to be next Conduit. Your father will summon the Biju later today."

Naruto let out a gasp at that, not even stopping the man as he hurried off to continue his duties. He know all about the Biju from his studies. The temple he lived at worshiped them after all. Currently, they were resting in their own realm as they had been for more than five decades.

Naruto had known that they would soon be returning to the realm of men. To "guide sinful mortals along the path of righteous" if you listened to the long-winded old priests who lived in temple. Thankfully his own father wasn't nearly so bad, despite being the High Priest.

Still, Naruto had never imagined being the Conduit himself. He may be the son of the High Priest of this temple, but their were countless temples and shrines dedicated to the Biju around the world. Why had he been chosen?

That was an answer he had still not received by the time he was led to the massive chamber that the entire temple was built around. The room had no ceiling, allowing for a view a the full moon directly overhead. There was strange glowing writing all along the walls, and in the center the priests stood around chanting in a language Naruto didn't understand.

His father led him to the center of the circle, the taller blond instructing him only to be brave and agree to whatever the Biju asked of him. Before Naruto was even sure of what was happening, his vision began to fill with a white light, and the sound of the chanting faded to silence. He soon felt as if he were floating, unable to move or hear anything, with only the endless light to keep him company.

"Do you agree to become our conduit?" a voice asked almost in a whisper, yet somehow clearer than anything he'd ever heard. It seemed almost to be coming from inside his very head. Naruto tried to answer, but found he couldn't speak and almost started to panic. He tried shouting that he didn't understand what was going on, but he couldn't make any sound.

"If you agree to become our conduit your soul will be tied to ours," the voice explained, almost as if it could hear his doubts. "It will be the door we use to enter your world and the path to return to our own. When it comes time for us to rest again your soul will return to our realm. Know that this means you will never pass on to heaven."

He wouldn't go to heaven? Did that mean he'd be alone forever? Naruto was proud of being chosen as the conduit, but if that's what being chosen meant, he didn't want anything to do with it.

"You will not be alone," the voice answered, convincing Naruto that it could indeed hear his thoughts. "When it is time to return you may bring anyone who wishes to join you. Even if you bring no one, you will have the company of all the conduits who went before you and all they have brought with them."

That was a huge relief to Naruto. The thought of never seeing anyone ever again had scared him more than he wanted to admit. But his father had told him to be brave, hadn't he? Naruto wanted to make his father proud. And he was sure his father would be willing to come with him when the time came.

They could stay together and Naruto could meet all the other conduits. Maybe some of them would even be his friends. There were no other kids living in the temple, so Naruto had never really had a friend before. His mind made up, Naruto tried to tell the voice that he agreed.

Almost before he'd finished the thought, he felt some sort of energy building in his body, almost as if he was on fire from the inside. Soon the white light vanished, and Naruto again found himself in the ritual room.

It was impossible to miss the new additions, however, as the room now contained nine massive forms belonging to the Biju. Largest of all was the Kyubi, a nine-tailed fox that almost made the room the small. He could feel the energy radiating out from the Kyubi's body. It was so powerful he thought it might sweep him away.

Looking directly at him, Kyubi spoke three simple words. "It is done."

* * *

Becoming the Conduit hadn't changed Naruto's life as much as he'd expected. Of course the new powers were beyond cool. He'd discovered that every scrape and bruise he'd get would heal in seconds. Even better, he'd learned he could call up that energy he'd felt during the ritual and it would give him super strength.

He'd had a lot of fun carrying around rocks larger than he was above his head with one hand. The priests quickly put a stop to that, however, when he'd nearly given one of the old geezers a heart attack.

There was also the fact that the Nibi stayed around the temple most of the time these days. The rest of the Biju had spread across the world to do whatever it was they did. Mostly tell the leaders of the various countries what to do as far as he understood.

Everything from what crops to plant and where, to what laws to pass. They also ensured that no wars took place between any of the nations. The priests were constantly telling Naruto how the world was a much better place when the Biju were here to rule than during the decades they rested in their own realm.

Still, the novelty of Nibi and even his new powers soon wore off, and the last two years had been much like the rest of his life. His father made as much time as he could to play with Naruto, but the temple kept him very busy. That left Naruto lots of time and little to do but listen to lessons from the other priests, an activity Naruto avoided as best as he could.

All of that changed one day when Naruto heard shouting coming from the main entrance to the temple. Naturally he decided to investigate the source. It was a rare treat to have the priests worked up to the point they'd make a commotion this loud. Probably fighting over some minor religious point no one else would care about.

What he found when he arrived was no simple argument, however. He rounded the corner just in time to see a tall man in a black cloak with red clouds on it slash open the back of a fleeing priest while a similarly dressed man looked on.

"Naruto, run!" the wounded priest managed to call out before falling to the ground.

"There's the brat," the unarmed intruder pointed out. "Kill him and the demons will have to return to their own realm."

Even with the added threat from the two men, Naruto found himself rooted to the spot, unable to follow the priest's command to flee. He may very well have stood there in shock right up until they stuck a sword in him if he hadn't been grabbed roughly from behind and dragged away.

Snapped out of his stupor, Naruto saw that it was his father who had lifted him into his arms and was now running away from the black-robed men as fast as he could. Unfortunately, when their pursuers rounded the corner, it became clear that they were faster than his father.

"They're gaining on us!" he shouted in warning, but his father was too occupied with running to give any reply.

As they dashed down the hallway, the two men grew ever closer. They were hardly even slowed when one particularly brave acolyte tried to throw himself in their path. He was skewered on the larger man's sword for his effort while only seeming to buy them a second or two. It was becoming clear there was no way they could escape. But maybe they could fight them. If Naruto used the power the Biju had given them, he was sure he'd be stronger than them.

"Put me down," he told his father, struggling to free himself from the man. "I can fight them."

His father ignored his cries, instead sharply turning a corner and leaping down a flight of stairs. He hit the bottom harshly with a grunt, but continued running, despite the fact that he was now clearly in pain. They were quickly approaching one of the side exits to the temple.

They made it out the door, but the larger of the men was now only a few feet behind them, within range of the man's sword. He was clearly aware of that fact, as he was already drawing it back to swing as he followed them out the door.

Naruto made to call out a warning, but before he'd so much as opened his mouth, a large claw swept down and sliced cleanly through both men moments after they had left the temple. The Nibi stood there serenely looking down at him, the giant two tailed cat seeming unphased by what had just happened.

His father finally set him, down, kneeling on the ground and hugging him as worked to regain his breath. "Everything's going to be okay now, Naruto," he promised. "They can't hurt you anymore."

* * *

Naruto's father had left the next day to find a way to ensure Naruto was better protected from future attacks. Meanwhile, Naruto was forced to spend almost all his time in the center room of the temple, protected by the Nibi. Thankfully, it remained both uneventful and dry until his father returned.

Naruto was finally taken back inside the temple where his father escorted him into one temple's small studies and began to explain where he'd been.

"There have always been those who where opposed to the Biju," he began. "Those who feel that mankind would be better off ruling itself. That said, I'd never imagined Akatsuki would have grown so bold as to attack one of our temples. Now, as powerful as the Biju are, I don't want them to be your only line of defense. In all honestly, they're better suited to dealing with armies than assassins."

"So did you hire some guards or something?" Naruto asked.

"I did better than that," his father answered. "I went to visit a clan of powerful warriors with unquestionable loyalty to the Biju. They're so devout that during the previous reign of the Biju they were given a blessing as reward for their service. The two of us will be living with them from now on, where the whole clan will be able to protect you."

"We're moving?" Naruto cried out, caught completely off guard by that fact. Once he'd gotten past the initial shock, he was actually somewhat excited by the prospect, even if he was still a little scared. Naruto had always wanted to travel and see other places, but he wasn't sure if he was ready to leave the temple permanently.

"Yes, but don't worry, everyone from the temple will visit us as often as they can," he assured Naruto. "They don't live too far from here. Although there is one more thing I should mention."

His father looked hesitant to continue, which began to worry Naruto. He had come right out and told Naruto they were moving without so much as flinching. How shocking must this news be if he was worried about how to break it?

"Well ... you see ... I kind of made a deal," his father finally explained. "In exchange for their protection I agreed that you would ... um ... marry a member of their clan."

"M-M-Marry?" Naruto screeched barely coherently. He could could count on one hand the number of women he remembered visiting the temple, pilgrims who rarely stayed more than a couple of days. And now he was getting married?

"Not anytime soon, of course," his father assured him. "You're both far too young for that. It's just an engagement for now, so you'll have plenty of time to get to know her."

His fathers words did little to appease him. Naruto was not at all pleased with being forced into an engagement, a fact he made known very loudly for a good half hour before he finally got the yelling out of his system. This being the first chance his father had to get a word in edgewise, he informed Naruto that his fiancee was actually in the temple, having traveled back with his father to meet Naruto.

When his father was convinced he was calm enough to be polite, he went to fetch their guests. Soon a black-haired girl about his own age entered alongside a man who looked like he could have been her father. The most striking aspect about the two of them was that they both possessed almost completely white eyes. There was a circle that was a little darker in color than the outside, but other than that, they appeared featureless.

As much as Naruto truly hated being forced into a marriage, seeing other children at the temple was even rarer than seeing women. While he wasn't looking for a wife, he didn't want to ruin the chance at making a friend. So he decided to put his best foot forward.

"I'm Naruto," he said, bowing as politely as he could.

"I'm Hyuga Hanabi," the girl answered in a reserved tone, bowing her head only slightly.

"Nice to meet you, Hyugahanabi," Naruto answered, smiling warmly. Although she actually seemed upset by his greeting.

"Don't say it like that," she snapped, confusing Naruto. "Are you trying to make fun of me?"

His father chuckled at exchange. "Hyuga is Hanabi's clan name," he told Naruto before turning to address Hanabi. "Forgive him, at the temple we give up all ties to our clan in service of the Biju. Naruto just isn't used to people with two names."

"That's stupid," Hanabi exclaimed. "The clan is more important than anything. Why would you give it up?"

"It's not stupid! Take that back!" Naruto shouted angrily. Who did this girl think she was? Coming to their temple and making fun of how they did things? He wasn't about to stand for it.

"I said it's stupid because it's stupid. If you want me to take it back then make me."

If she was going to go so far as to ask him to, that Naruto was going to oblige her. Marching up to Hanabi, he reached out his arm to give her a shove. What he wasn't expecting was for her to grab his arm, twist around and flip him onto his back. While he was still stunned by her move, she twisted him onto his stomach and held his arm painfully behind his back.

Naruto's anger was well beyond the boiling point by now, and he was already reaching for the power of the Biju. With the strength it gave him, he'd easily be able to break free from her and then he'd show her a thing or two.

"Naruto, no," his father ordered firmly, although not harshly, obviously sensing what Naruto had been intending to do. "Your gift is not something to be used in petty squabbles. Especially against your future wife."

"Let him up Hanabi," the elder Hyuga ordered just as firmly.

Hanabi released him, but appeared as reluctant to do so as Naruto was to stop drawing the power of the Biju. Nor did their fathers' words stop them from glaring at each other through the entire process.

"I'm never going to marry you," he vowed to Hanabi, keeping his voice low in hopes of avoiding a scolding from his father.

"Good, because I'm not going to marry you either," she replied.

* * *

Naruto's life at the Hyuga clan compound wasn't nearly as bad as he'd feared. The only real downside was that Naruto and Hanabi remained at each other's throats as often as not. About the only thing they could ever agree on was that they were never going to marry each other. It became almost a mantra for them over the years, one they reminded each other of almost constantly.

Still, as much as she drove him crazy with her arrogance and rudeness, Naruto had to secretly admit that he was glad she was around. It was great having someone his own age to spend time with. They would explore the nooks and crannies of the complex, pretend to be famous heroes, and all sorts of other activities.

And if nearly every one of their outings devolved into a brawl? Well, that was almost the most enjoyable part of the whole experience. Being in the complex gave him plenty of practice with fighting too. He was trained in the Hyuga fighting style as much as anyone without the Byakugan could be. It turned out he had a natural talent for it.

Despite the later start in life, in just a few short years, he'd caught up to Hanabi, who was considered quite talented herself. Well, if she fought without using her Byakugan that is. But Naruto's father still forbid him from using his power in their fights, so Naruto thought it only fair she didn't use hers either. Not that his opinion stopped her when they were particularly upset with each other.

As they grew older Hanabi flowered from a girl to a very attractive young woman. It was almost a shame they couldn't stand each other. If she weren't impossible to live with sometimes she'd almost be the perfect woman. She was smart, good-looking, a skilled fighter who could always keep him on his toes, and when she wasn't being infuriating, she was actually quite fun to be with.

Then one day came when Naruto's father had practically thrown into a black kimono and dragged him outside to where he saw Hanabi dressed stunningly in a white wedding kimono. He hadn't heard so much as a peep of this being planned. Their fathers must have been craftier than he'd given them credit for.

"We're not actually going to go through with this, are we?" he asked Hanabi, finding it somehow difficult to think clearly since he'd laid eyes on her.

"Of course not," she replied with a playful smirk. "You know that I'll never marry you."

"Ah, how silly of me," Naruto responded, smiling back. "We'll just play along for a bit and then run out from the ceremony. Just imagine the looks on our fathers faces when we pull that off."

With plan in mind, he entered the building the wedding was taking place in. Once inside, the two of them listened to Naruto's father perform the ceremony, said their vows, and drank the wedding sake. Only after the wedding was over did he realize that somewhere along the line it had slipped his mind that it was supposed to be an act while they got ready to run out of the ceremony. At that point, he couldn't have cared less that he'd forgotten.

* * *

In the months that followed his wedding, Naruto was convinced that he was living in what would prove to be the happiest days of his life. He discovered he'd been wrong a little over a year later when Hanabi gave birth to their daughter, Hyuga Nanami.

He loved every moment of being a father, although Hanabi became more than a little annoyed at how energetic and happy he seemed to matter how little sleep Nanami let them get. Another benefit of his link to the Biju.

His marriage may have been saved by the fact that Nanami didn't stay a baby forever, and Hanabi was once again able to sleep undisturbed most nights. Nanami seemed to grow cuter as fast as she was growing larger.

She took after her mother more than Naruto in looks, most noticeably with the Byakugan and the black hair. Although as far as hair was concerned she inherited the spikiness of Naruto's own to a smaller degree, a fact that would torment her as she approached her teens.

Unsurprising, considering who her parents were, Nanami was highly skilled at Juken, a name the clan had recently given to the martial art they were still developing. While she was still in her teens she had surpassed many of the adult members of the clan.

During this time, they also discovered that Naruto had stopped aging. Even into his thirties he didn't looks to be a day over twenty. Discussing the matter with the Nibi had confirmed that this was normal for Conduits. Naruto wasn't complaining, even if visitors gave him strange looks when he told them Hanabi was his wife, or would no longer believe that Nanami was his daughter.

It wasn't too long beyond that when a day arrived that Naruto had long been dreading. A wandering practitioner of martial arts by the name of Ichiro had heard of the skill of the Hyuga clan and come to issue a challenge.

Nanami had accepted on behalf of the clan and promptly taken the poor fool apart, knocking him out and giving him a nasty concussion and some broken ribs. But somewhere between the fight and his recovery the two had fallen for each other, and now they were getting married.

Naruto put on the happiest face he could manage for Nanami's sake but inwardly he couldn't help but be depressed. And not just for the reasons every father hates to give away a daughter. It was more that the day he was dreading even more was drawing closer.

The Biju didn't like to stay in the human realm for much more than fifty years, which gave him less than two decades. He'd already been devastated to learn that his father didn't plan to join him when he performed his duty as the Conduit and followed the Biju to their realm.

He'd argued for some time over it, but he could understand that his father wanted to be reunited with his wife, the mother than Naruto couldn't even remember. Now Naruto feared he would have to say goodbye to his daughter on that day as well.

He had secretly harbored hopes that his daughter would never marry and would join him on his journey. Naruto supposed it was still possible she would. She might never have children of her own, or they could bring them along too.

But would it be fair to take them before they'd even had a chance to live their lives? And even if she remained childless it would mean forcing his daughter and son-in-law to choose whose parents to be separated from forever.

And seeing as going with Naruto would mean giving up their lives, he had a feeling he knew which way that decision would go. No, it was best to prepare himself for the fact he would someday be leaving his daughter behind.

If he didn't know Hanabi were going with him, the thought might have broken him, but as long as they were together, he felt they could work through anything. They would go on and find their own happiness in whatever life the realm of the Biju left them.

And he still had more than a decade of life left to spend with his family. Maybe more than two if leaned on the Biju for some extra time. Long enough to have grandchildren and see them grow, perhaps. Yes, he shouldn't spoil what time remained worrying about the future.

* * *

They had to wait less than a year for it to be apparent that their first grandchild was on the way. In fact, it was a clear that the baby could come at any time the day a man showed up at the clan compound out of breath and demanding to see the Nibi.

He told them he was from a nearby village, and the heavy rains had been causing the river to flood. They were doing everything they could to hold it back, but they were afraid it was a lost cause. He begged the Nibi to come help them before they lost all their homes and crops.

The Nibi agreed to help, and Naruto volunteered to go along, an action that didn't seem to please the man. "I appreciate the offer," the man told him, "but we don't have any time to waste, and I'm sure Nibi-sama can travel much faster than yourself."

"If that's all you're worried about, it won't be a problem," Naruto assured him, before quickly hopping up onto the back of the Nibi. "I won't slow her at all like this."

The man couldn't help gawking at Naruto's actions, but made no further efforts to stop them. At the pace the Nibi set, it was less than two hours before they arrived at the village. However, when they did they found that,while the river was much higher from the rain, it was not at risk of flooding. Nor did anyone know of a villager leaving to get help.

Naruto had a bad feeling about the whole situation and urged the Nibi to return as quickly as possible. What he saw when he arrived was even worse than he'd been dreading. The man who had shown up at the village was now sporting one of the red-clouded cloaks of Akatsuki and was holding a sword to his father's throat.

Even worse, Hanabi, Nanami, and Ichiro were all sprawled on the ground with blood clearly visible on their clothing. He saw Nanami thrashing about, but Hanabi and Ichiro were frighteningly still. The fact the a number of Hyuga men were standing warily in a circle around the lone living Akatsuki member comforted him no more than the fact that there were more more than twice as many bodies on the ground with Akatsuki cloaks than without.

"You're the only one we wanted," the man exclaimed loudly when he saw Naruto. "If you'd just stayed here like I said, we might have avoided all this."

"If you wanted me then you should have come for me, you coward!" Naruto screamed as he jumped down from the Nibi, angrier than he'd ever been in his life.

"We just wanted hostages," the man insisted. "They weren't supposed to resist. No one but you should have been harmed. Your wife though, she killed five of my friends, I had to put her down. She didn't give me any choice. Give yourself up though and I'll let your father go. You might still save your daughter too."

"Nibi-sama, do it!" his father yelled out, struggling against the man despite the blade at his throat.

"No, don't!" Naruto ordered when he realized what his father meant, but the Nibi was advancing regardless of his orders, carefully leaping about to avoid fallen bodies.

"No! You wouldn't kill him!" the man cried out in fear. "He's one of your priests!"

His words didn't slow the Nibi anymore than Naruto's had and as if in some twisted parody of his childhood memory, the Nibi's claw once again lashed out and sliced two men into pieces. Naruto's knees went weak at his father's death, but he quickly caught himself and joined the throng rushing in to see to the fallen.

He was the first to Hanabi's side, but try as he might, could find no pulse or sign of breathing. Despite the shock of that discovery leaving him so numb he could barely think, he forced himself to move over to Nanami, where he found a Hyuga woman already looking her over.

"This doesn't look good," she told Naruto. "Her wounds are beyond anything I know how to treat."

Those words seemed to sever Naruto's tenuous connection to sanity as his mind seemed to fall away into his own pit of numbness and despair. If the Nibi's words hadn't come through like a lifeline at the last moment, he wasn't sure if he would have ever broken from his stupor.

"Your wife's spirit yet lingers," the Nibi informed him. "If we act quickly I can begin process to return the biju to our world and bring her with us."

Naruto clung to the ray of hope the Nibi had just offered. Hanabi may be dead, but he could see her again in a few minutes. And Nanami was dying anyway, so he could take her with as well, right?

"What about Ichiro?" he asked, for his daughter's sake.

"I'm sorry, but he's been dead for too long," the Nibi replied.

Naruto was crushed to hear that, but still considered momentarily the possibility of taking Nanami as well. But no, Hanabi would never forgive him for separating Nanami and her husband without their consent. No more than she would look kindly on him abandoning their daughter and unborn grandchild without trying to save them he realized.

"Can you do anything to save Nanami?" he asked the Nibi.

"Perhaps one of the other biju could," Nibi answered, "but I know nothing of healing humans."

That wasn't the answer Naruto wanted to hear, but he'd nearly lost himself to despair once. He wasn't going to give up now when his daughter needed him. Maybe if he projected the energy given to him by the Biju to her body, it would heal her like it did him.

Judging from her wounds, it was clear she wouldn't survive via conventional means, and he couldn't think of any other options. With his decision made, he wasted no time drawing upon the energy as a white glow began to surround him.

Placing his hands on Nanami, he tried force it out through his hands and into her. At first nothing happened, but he kept trying and eventually he felt it begin to transfer to her. He heard a gasp from Nanami and released his power reflexively, afraid he was actually killing her after all.

Berating himself, he started again and even began to force the transfer at a faster pace when he didn't notice any change. Soon, Nanami began to glow with a fainter version of the white light that formed an aura around Naruto.

Then, to his great pleasure, he saw that cuts that Nanami had been bleeding from slowly close up until they eventually vanished. He continued to provide her with the healing energy until Nanami's eyes snapped open and she sat up with a start.

"Father!" she cried out when she saw him. "Thank goodness you're back."

As she looked around, he could see the memories of everything that happened rushing back to her by the way her emotions played across her face. "Ichiro, mother, they … they killed them," she cried out before latching onto him and sobbing into his chest.

It was almost too much to bare that he would have to leave her now as well, right after the losses she'd just faced. But he couldn't afford to delay. He was spared from having to tell Nanami his plans when the Nibi interrupted.

"It's too late," the Nibi exclaimed. "Her spirit has moved on."

"No!" Naruto shouted in disbelief, trying briefly to free himself from his daughter, but giving up in the face of her iron grip. "It can't be too late! Isn't there a trail or something? Something you can use to find her?"

"Her soul is now forever beyond the reach of my power," the Nibi answered, bowing her head as if in apology for her failure.

"Then … they're really gone?" Nanami asked looking every bit as miserable as Naruto felt. Still he had to be strong for her sake.

"I'll make them pay," he promised her. "I swear to you that I'll hunt down and kill every last member of Akatsuki."

"Good," Nanami replied, although she didn't slow her tears after that. In the face of everything that had happened, Naruto was no longer able to hold back his own emotions. So the two of them sat there crying over their shared losses and taking comfort in each other's presence. They were finally broken from their mourning when Nanami gave out a startled cry.

"What is it?" Naruto asked, worried that his healing might not have been as effective as he'd thought.

"The baby," she answered. "It's coming."

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Sorry to leave it on a bit of a cliffhanger. Anyway, a lot of drama in the first chapter, and there are probably people who wish I'd spent more time covering it. That said, I still spent more than I intended on this part, even forcing myself to speed through as much as possible.

I don't want people too attached to this part of the timeline, as we have hundreds of years to go before things start to resemble canon. Nevertheless, it's important to know what happened to understand Naruto's motivations once the main story starts.

Anyway, I'm probably roughly halfway through the prologue, give or take 15%. I'll have the rest out in a chapter or two, depending on how much detail I decide to go into and whether it seems better to split the remainder into two chapters.

A couple other notes. I'm also rewriting the origin of Akatsuki, along with the biju, but both will play a role in the main story as well. For those worried Naruto isn't strong enough, or that the power he gets from his role as the conduit is too lame, just be patient. Naruto hasn't had much need for power yet. He might possibly be more motivated to pursue it starting in the next chapter.

Anyway I'd be happy to hear from anyone who stumbled onto this story and persevered to the end. Did you lose a bet or was just plain stubborn insistence to finish what you start?


	2. Vengeance

Naruto was rooted to the spot just outside Nanami's house. It seemed like ages before the midwife finally opened the door. Seeing the dour look on her face immediately brought Naruto to the point of panic.

"Nanami is fine," the woman told him, calming him down significantly.

"What about the baby?" he queried, hoping that it was just oversight that the midwife hadn't mentioned that.

"Your granddaughter is … healthy," she answered, seeming to pick her words carefully.

Naruto was certain something was up now, and practically pushed his way past the midwife. He was convinced the power he'd used to heal Nanami must have transformed her baby into some sort of hideous monster the way the midwife had been acting.

When he entered he saw Nanami resting with her daughter and his eyes immediately searched the baby for anything that might be wrong. But he couldn't find anything wrong with her. That was until he got a look at her eyes, perfectly normal looking brown ones.

He let out a huge sigh of relief at that. The lack of the Byakugan would be a huge deal to the Hyuga, but Naruto could hardly care less at the moment. Seeing Naruto, Nanami smiled at him.

"Father, I'd like you to meet Harumi."

* * *

They Hyuga had refused to let Naruto's father be buried on clan ground. Ichiro had married into the Hyuga clan much as Naruto had himself, but Naruto's father wasn't a Hyuga. It wasn't a huge inconvenience, Naruto and Nanami had spent a day traveling until they were well off clan ground and held their own funeral to see him off.

No, the real problem was Harumi's lack of the Byakugan. Naruto had underestimated how much trouble that would cause. Some of the Hyuga were convinced that they'd let their blood grow too thin and they needed to implement policies to keep it pure.

Others had an even worse opinion. There were those who thought that Harumi's eyes were a sign she was cursed by the Biju. They quickly learned not to say that within Naruto's hearing. The worst part was, the Nibi couldn't even do much to dispel that rumor. She said that the Byakugan was a gift of the Hachibi, and that for all she knew, it could have been his will that Harumi be denied it.

Still, Naruto was convinced he could just ignore the talk, but even that proved too much to hope when, less than a year after Harumi's birth, his daughter pulled him aside. She informed him that the clan leadership had decided that Harumi would be denied entry into the clan registry. Worse, she was to be expelled from the village.

"You can't be serious," Naruto protested when he heard the news. "We won't let them do that."

"It's the right decision, father," Nanami responded. "At best she'd grow up an outsider in the village. At worst, she truly is cursed. and harboring her could cause our clan to lose the favor of the Biju."

"You can't possibly believe that nonsense about the curse?" Naruto sputtered out in disbelief that the clan would have gotten to Nanami with that talk.

"I believe it's possible," she admitted. "Ichiro was never particularly reverent of the Biju. This could be my punishment for marrying him anyway."

"You are at least planning on going with her, right?" Naruto asked hopefully, but her lack of reply was all the answer he needed, causing his scowl to deepen.

"It's not as if I'm happy about doing this," she finally said. "Nevertheless, my place is here, and the clan will make sure she has a good family. She'll be happier this way."

"I'll take care of her," Naruto stated in a tone that brooked no argument.

"She won't be allowed in the village no matter who raises her," Nanami insisted.

"Then I'll leave the village," Naruto snapped back. "After all I don't have your precious Byakugan either."

"Father, be reasonable," she said soothingly. "It's different for you, you're the Conduit. Besides, it's our job to protect you."

"Feel free to continue to protect me," Naruto said, "you'll find me by Harumi's side."

* * *

In the end, Naruto had chosen the site of his father's grave and set to work building a home. His daughter had consented to keep Harumi until he'd finished constructing it. Secretly, he'd hoped this extra time would serve to change her mind, but sadly such was not the case.

Naruto moved into the home, which he was embarrassed to say was rather poorly built. Still the surrounding area had plenty of trees, and Naruto soon set to work on a replacement in his free time. All in all, he repeated the process of building a new house and then tearing down the old one a dozen times over the course of the next two years. Finally all that practice paid off and he had a home he was proud of.

This was much to the disappointment of Harumi, who loved nothing more than to watch him tear apart one of their old houses until it collapsed. As far as raising Harumi went, Naruto doted on her more than he had his own daughter. He wanted to do his best to make up for the girl growing up without either of her parents, her only companions being her grandfather and the Nibi.

If it weren't for the eyes, Harumi would still have looked every bit the Hyuga. Two generations had erased most of the Naruto's own features from the girl. The only real mark left was that her otherwise straight black hair had one large spike in the back left that refused to stay down.

Raising her was such a joy that Naruto was almost willing to forget his vow of vengeance. Yet whenever he considered it, he just remembered Hanabi's body lying there in a pool of blood and his flames of anger were stoked back to their previous fury. So with his goal still in mind he continued to train whenever he could.

This wasn't as easy as he'd like. He had a couple of friends among the Hyuga who would occasionally risk the clan's wrath to come out and spar with him. To his eternal dismay, Nanami wasn't one of them. Harumi had formed a rather large rift between father and daughter.

Even ten years after her birth, Nanami refused to so much as come visit her. In response, Naruto stubbornly refused to ever stop by the Hyuga village, much less return permanently as Nanami kept demanding. As such, they only ever communicated through letters, despite being less than a day's travel from each other. And even those letters grew less frequent and more bitter over the years.

Naruto didn't limit his training to himself, either. He did his best to ensure Harumi could defend herself. Nor did he ever leave the girl alone, always fearing Akatsuki might again go after those he cared about. But for whatever reason, they never did.

For their part, the Biju began to make it clear they wished to return to their own realm in the near future. Also that they opposed his plan for vengeance, as it would put his life at risk. Naruto tried to convince them to help wipe out Akatsuki if they were so worried, but they insisted that they would not act as the aggressor against human.

If Naruto decided to pick a fight with Akatsuki, they were forbidden to get involved even to protect his life. If Naruto insisted on going through with it, he would be on his own. Their warnings never swayed him, however, and it was shortly after Harumi's twentieth birthday that Naruto finally decided he could delay his vengeance no longer.

Breaking that news to Harumi was probably the hardest thing he'd ever done. She'd begged him to stay. She'd begged to go with him. She'd begged him to simply perform the ritual as the Biju requested and take her as well. When Naruto turned down each request she tried one final tactic.

"Instead of spending your time getting vengeance for grandmother, wouldn't it be better to find some way to be with her again?" Harumi asked him.

"I would give anything if I could," Naruto answered, "but my soul is tied to the Biju."

"Then convince them to untie it," Harumi insisted. "And if they refuse, find a way to break free yourself. I'll help you do it. Together I'm sure we can find a way."

Naruto couldn't believe he'd never considered the possibility himself. He supposed that's what you got from having it ingrained in you since you were six years old that the end result was inevitable. He didn't know if it was even possible to do, but it was certainly worth looking into. Naruto even considered taking Harumi up on her offer and staying.

"No," he finally said after much deliberation. "I swore an oath while standing over your grandmother's body. I won't break my word. I will swear a new one to you, though. As soon as I'm finished dealing with Akatsuki, the first thing I'll do is come back here to find you. Then we'll find a way to free me from the Biju, just like you said."

"I'll only ask you one more time, but please, stay here for my sake," she begged him.

For a moment Naruto thought her eyes flashed red. But that must have just been a trick of the light caused by her tears.

"I'm sorry," was all he answered before engulfing her in a hug and giving his final farewell.

Despite his vow to return, he had to convince the Nibi to physically restrain Harumi before he was able to escape. Even then, it took all his will not to turn around and run back. Instead, he kept moving forward.

* * *

Finding his first member of Akatsuki turned out to be easier than he'd expected. He'd simply been asking around in a nearby town the man had approached him, having heard about the person asking after him. He was dressed in a full suit of black armor with the red clouds painted on it. The stylized armor and sword made it clear the man was a samurai.

The samurai were supposed to be unparallelled warriors, but Naruto didn't despair. How many of them had more than half a century of training while still being physically in their prime? Not to mention the power of the Biju he could call upon to aid himself.

The two wasted little time with chatter, both clearly eager to kill the other. Unfortunately for Naruto, the fight didn't go as well as he'd hoped. If anything, the samurai was even a little faster than he was. And with the added range of his sword, and the skill with which he wielded it, Naruto was unable to get close enough to actually hit him.

Meanwhile, he'd taken countless cuts, especially upon his arms when he did try to attack. All of them quickly healed themselves, but for the first time since he'd become the Conduit, he could actually feel himself growing weary.

He wasn't sure his healing would last much longer, and he doubted he could live through a decapitation if one of the frequent attacks aimed for his neck got through. Realizing he would have to change tactics, his mind raced until he came up with a plan.

Continuing to dodge he carefully watched his opponent, waiting for him to make the move Naruto needed. Finally he made a thrust at Naruto's neck, which Naruto quickly danced to the left of. But rather than leaving it at that, he brought his right arm up and slammed the forearm into the point of the blade, skewering it.

With the strength his power gave him, he was easily able to twist his arm to the side and wrench the sword from his opponent. Then, not giving him a moment to recover, he dashed in and slammed his fist into his opponents helmet, following through and slamming him into the ground.

The metal of the helmet caved in from the force of his blow, and a quick check confirmed the samurai had not survived the attack. Finally removing the sword from his arm, he saw the wound healing much slower than usual, as if struggling to do so. Finally it did close, leaving Naruto feeling as if he could barely stand.

He sat down in the middle of the road to think, none of those who hadn't fled the fight looking particularly eager to object. He was beginning to have doubts about his ability to follow through on his plan. That fight had been a much closer thing than he cared to admit.

Nor did it seem likely his strongest opponent would be the first he faced. Not to mention they might not be so kind as to fight him one at a time. No, he wasn't about to give up, but he would need to prepare. Since the samurai were such powerful warriors, he would learn from them himself. And if he was going to learn their ways, he may as well learn from the best.

With his mind made up, Naruto set off for the Land of Iron.

* * *

It turned out to be slightly more complicated than simply showing up at their door and asking for training. The guard had openly laughed at him saying that samurai began their education as young children and he was much too old to start.

When Naruto proceeded to give the armed and armored guard a beating with his bare fists, they brought someone a little more willing to listen. Even so, gaining admittance had required Naruto to reveal that he was the Conduit to Goro, a samurai who looked to be pushing 50 and currently was in charge of the school.

After convincing him, Goro had made him swear not to reveal that fact to anyone else. It seemed that even among the samurai of the Land of Iron there were those who did not look upon the Biju in a friendly light.

Naruto was very pleased with progress he made in his training once it began. The samurai had techniques to use the bodies own chakra to grant increased speed. It was something his previous training had caused him to do subconsciously, but with more direct control, the results were significantly improved.

Even better, with some practice he did on his own, he was able to find a way to use the power of the Biju in a similar manner, so his speed increased as well as his strength. Within the first year he'd progressed to the point where the samurai he'd killed wouldn't have been a threat to him at all. Still, his time spent training with Goro showed that there were potentially far more dangerous opponents out there, so he continued his studies.

His progress with swordplay wasn't quite as smooth. Despite how his body looked, he was over sixty years old. Juken had been central to his fighting style for most of that time, and he found it near impossible to give that up and start from scratch.

He finally began to make progress when he gave up learning the style of the Land of Iron and began to develop his own style of swordplay based on Juken. It wasn't an easy task, considering Juken was made for unarmed combat, but he pressed on, and Goro's help he was able to make great strides.

At the end of ten years, even Goro was impressed with what they'd come up with. It was now an effective sword fighting style, but anyone who was trained in Juken would clearly be able to see many of the same tactics and flows of movement that they were familiar with.

Naruto had never planned to stay for a full ten year, but Goro always seemed to talking into staying "just a little longer" to make sure he was ready. Finally, he'd had enough though and could be delayed no longer. He told Goro that while he wanted all of Akatsuki dead, he didn't want it to be of old age.

Besides, even with old trainees departing and new ones coming in, it was commonly discussed how Naruto didn't seem to be getting any older. Goro consented, and Naruto wished the old samurai a fond farewell before setting off to finally get his long awaited revenge.

* * *

Naruto quickly set into a routine of traveling around, asking after members of Akatsuki, then hunting them down and killing them when he found a lead. Thanks to his ten years of training, none of his opponents proved particularly dangerous.

The most annoying part of the journey was that the Kyubi apparently had some sort of telepathic link to him, and hounded him endlessly to return to perform the ritual. Naruto had broached the subject of releasing himself from his position as the Conduit, but the Kyubi refused completely. All he would say was that Naruto had agreed to take the position and they intended to hold him to it.

After ten years of this, however, it became clear to Naruto that Akatsuki was replacing their numbers as fast as he could kill them. These days, not only did they have those who never wanted to live under the Biju to recruit from, but those angry that the Biju had abandoned them as well.

It was only after Naruto had finished training in the Land of Iron that he'd learned the Biju had left their posts and ceased any interference with the humans only a few years after he'd left home. They could still be found in whatever area the Biju had made their home, proving they'd yet to return to their own realm, but they refused any pleas for aid or advice.

When asked, Kyubi told him it was because they were weary from their time in the realm of mortals. Naruto, however, secretly wondered if this was just a ploy to get him to perform the ritual. Whatever the reason, it was making it nearly impossible for Naruto to complete the eradication of his sworn enemies.

Naruto decided to take a different approach from that point on. He redoubled his efforts to hunt down Akatsuki and did his best to advertise his efforts. He wanted it known throughout the world that donning that accursed cloak was as good as a death sentence.

His efforts began to bear fruit, and within ten years it was becoming very hard for him to find anyone who would admit to any affiliation with the group. People didn't even want to talk about Akatsuki anymore for fear of the 'blond demon killing all who opposed the will of the Biju.' Naruto found that quite funny considering he was in direct opposition to the will of the Biju himself, as Kyubi constantly reminded him.

Naruto was beginning to think his decades long quest was nearly at an end. Most of the leads he'd been getting lately turned out to be nothing but a dead end, and the one he was currently following seemed likely to be another. Someone claimed to have heard rumors of men in cloaks secretly meeting in a nearby cave.

When Naruto arrived there, he didn't see any sign of light inside. Wishing he'd had the foresight to bring a torch, he improvised by summoning the power of the Biju to create a glow around him. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing, and he wanted to get this wild goose chase over with.

He traveled through the cave for some time until it opened into a large cavern. His senses told him something was wrong even before torches began to light up all around him. Once his eyes adjusted to the sudden light, he saw that there were more than a hundred members of Akatsuki surrounding him.

"I see you came," one of the figures called out smugly. "Our days of sitting idly while you hunt us down are over. You see before you every last remaining member of our organization. One way or another, it all ends today."

"Perfect," Naruto replied, doing his best to sound more confident than he felt. "You couldn't have given me a better gift."

"You may change your mind shortly," he shot back. "Ever since you started your attempt to exterminate us, we've been hiding our strongest members, training them hard specifically to kill you. This isn't just a hundred members of Akatsuki, this is a hundred of the strongest members Akatsuki has ever had."

Naruto didn't know if the boast were true or simply meant to intimidate him, but either way he couldn't afford to let them make the first move. He needed to get his back to a wall, so he picked a target near a promising section and charged him.

His opponents reacted quickly to his charge. While he succeeding in stabbing his target through the chest with his sword, and scattering the rest enough to give him so space, he paid for his gains. He'd taken a spear in the side, a throwing knife of some sort in the back, and had several deep cuts from sword swipes that were already healing.

He pulled out the spear and the knife to let those wounds heal as well, but it seemed the boast regarding their skill wasn't empty. Naruto couldn't afford to make an exchange like that for every kill he got. Nor were they giving him any time to think up a plan as the throng was already charging toward him.

Summoning more of the power of the Biju than he'd ever called on before, his aura flared out in an impressive display that caused most of his opponents to halt their charge and eye him warily. One large man who was particularly brave continued unerringly in his assault.

In response, Naruto shot his aura out toward the man, who finally stopped in his tracks as he attempted to dodge. His efforts came too late as the white light enveloped him. His companions looked on with morbid curiosity to see what would happen, but their friend seemed perfectly fine as Naruto's aura retreated. Indeed the man calmly stood up and dusted himself off.

"Was that supposed to hurt?" he mocked Naruto. "If anything I feel refreshed, like I just woke up from a good night's sleep."

Naruto cursed that his act of desperation was so futile. He shouldn't have attacked with it. If they were still afraid of the light, he could have thinned their numbers before they got their act together again. He'd just hoped it would prove an effective weapon.

"You must really be desperate if you're trying something as pathetic as that," the same man who had first spoken called out. "Although before you die, I would like to know what we did that could have made you pursue us so doggedly."

"You killed my wife," Naruto spat out in reply.

"Surely that can't be all," he responded, clearly trying to anger Naruto. "You know I actually met your wife, don't you? I visited your little village of demon worshipers to spy on you prior to our operation. I even got to chat a bit with Hanabi."

Naruto started a bit that he actually knew her name. Was this not just a lie made up to goad him into acting carelessly?

"She was a pretty enough woman for her age, I'll grant you that," he continued. "But she was hardly very feminine at all. Honestly I found her quite dull. I can see how it might be a minor inconvenience to lose her, but surely there was something else that provoked you."

Although Naruto was probably playing right into his hands, the man's words succeeded in enraging him. They were also sealing his own death as Naruto vowed that venom spewing mouth would breath its last breath tonight no matter what happened.

"I was going to tell you we'd be sending you to her shortly," he sneered, "but then I remembered, you'll be joining your demon masters in hell, won't you?"

Making light of Naruto's eternal separation from Hanabi after playing a part in killing her? If Naruto thought he was angry before, it paled before the fury that nearly pushed all rational thought to the side. He could feel his anger seeping out of him, and the white aura around him turned blood red, as if corrupted by his rage. It almost felt as if it was setting his skin on fire.

"You think you can scare us now just by changing the color?" the large man he'd previously hit with his aura asked with a laugh. "We've already seen how harmless your little light show is."

Finishing his speech, he charged at Naruto again. Almost by instinct, Naruto lashed out again with his aura, and this time his opponent didn't even try to dodge. Only in contrast to the previous attack, the large Akatsuki member was certainly not refreshed. A better description of what happened would be burned alive.

While his foes were still standing there stunned by what had happened, Naruto sent out a second wave of the red aura at the group's unofficial spokesperson. It lashed out faster than the man could react, and Naruto pressed so much power into the attack, that when he finally let up, nothing remained of his tormentor but a pile of ashes.

The room erupted into chaos at this point. Some charged Naruto in an attempt to take cut him down. Others tried to flee. There were even some who threw down their weapons in surrender and begged his forgiveness. Naruto burned them all, not allowing a single survivor. What had looked to be the hardest fight of his life turned into a complete massacre.

When it was finally over, Naruto collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. He was even more exhausted after his final fight with Akatsuki than he'd been after his first. Lying there with the fruits of his labor, Naruto felt somewhat cheated.

Shouldn't there be some great sense of vindication? Some sort of weight off his back? He'd finally fulfilled his oath his swore half a century ago. Yet he couldn't find the least bit of pride in that. He felt as empty as he ever had.

Even though his strength had quickly recovered, Naruto continued to lie on the cave floor throughout the night, reflecting on what he'd done. He was surrounded by charred flesh, melted armor, skeletons some of which were half burned to ashes themselves.

He began to wonder how many of them had anything to do with Hanabi's death. How many had truly deserved to die? There had even been a few women among them. How many wives did he kill? How many husbands and sons and brothers perished in his quest for vengeance?

He may have sat there for days if he hadn't remembered another oath he'd made. He'd promised Harumi he'd return as soon as he had dealt with Akatsuki. Remembering that vow brought a sudden epiphany. Chasing down Akatsuki had brought him no joy, but back before he'd left, the time he'd spent with his granddaughter, he'd actually been quite happy much of the time.

Promise or not, he was a fool for having ever left. But one thing was certain, after thirty years away, Naruto was going home.

**Author's Notes:**

I decided to break the prologue up into three chapters, although the third will probably be relatively short. There's a good chance I'll finish it tomorrow. It makes for a nice thematic cut into three parts. 'The Good Old Days', 'Vengeance', and I'll probably name chapter three 'Passing Time.'

A few things I'd like to note is that it is my vision of this world that all bloodline limits were originally gifts from various Biju. Also, upon the start of the story, ninja did not even exist yet, as such. Although they're now starting to pop up, as we'll see in the next chapter.

Next up, just to clarify a bit, given how drastically I'm changing the lore, you may be surprised by how similar Konoha will look once it catches up in chapter three. That said, I'll make sure to shake things up there (or is that then) too.

One final item is that I left a rather important hint to a major plot point in this chapter. I thought I made it fairly obvious, so if you think you know what it is, you're probably right. If you don't have a clue, I can give more hints, or confirm a guess upon requests. But I won't say any more here in case there are those who want to figure it out on their own.


	3. Passing Time

**Foreword:**

What madness convinced me this chapter would be short?

* * *

Arriving at the home he'd raised Harumi in, Naruto's heart fell to see the place was abandoned. From the looks if it, it had been many years since anyone had lived there. Of course, Naruto shouldn't have been surprised about that, he could hardly expect her to live as a hermit all these years.

She'd probably just moved to one of the nearby villages, likely the one Naruto had often taken her to as a child. There was also the possibility Nanami would know where she was. The bitterness from the decades long rift between them made him balk at the thought of asking her, but Naruto quickly stamped down on that.

He'd already let anger ruin much of his life, he wasn't going to let pride finish its work. He'd make the first move to reconciliation and go see his daughter. Resting one more night in the worn down old home he knew so well, he made an early start and pushed hard toward the village, arriving before noon. There, a young Hyuga not much past twenty made to stop Naruto.

"Halt, what business do you have here?" the man demanded of him, getting into a familiar battle stance.

"Not much for hospitality these days, are you?" Naruto noted dryly.

"'These days' are very dangerous times," the guard snapped back. "Now state your name and your business. If you're here to hire us I'm going to need to see your funds before I let you in. You don't look like the type that can afford us."

Naruto was curious as to what that was about hiring them, but he didn't want to stand here all day dealing with the guard, so he cut right to the chase. "I'm Hyuga Naruto, and I'm here to see my daughter."

"Hyuga … hah," the man scoffed. "Do you take me for an idiot? You're not a … wait … Hyuga Naruto?"

His eyes went wide as he seemed to finally recognize the name. The man looked him over, and Naruto could see the wheels turning as he matched him to whatever description he'd heard growing up. The end result was a very pale and much more respectful guard.

"Forgive me sir," he said. "I didn't recognize you. Follow me and I'll take you to Nanami-sama. I should warn you, she's been somewhat ill lately."

That didn't worry Naruto as much as it should have. Probably because he was just glad to hear she was still alive. She was over seventy now, and it was well within the realm of possibility that she would have already passed on.

The age became clear when he was led into the room. He even hesitated upon seeing the woman lying in her futon. The wrinkled, white-haired, frail looking form was so different from the barely twenty-two, strong young woman he still pictured from the last time he saw his daughter fifty years ago. If her face hadn't lit up the moment she spotted him, he might have gone on wondering if it was really her.

"Father," she called out happily. "I thought I'd never see you again."

In that moment, it didn't matter what Nanami looked like, or how many nasty things they'd said to each other over the years, Naruto was instantly kneeling at her side, looking down at where she lay.

"I came," he said comfortingly. "I should have been here long ago, but I came."

"You were right," Nanami told him. "I've wanted to tell you for a long time, but you were right. I should have kept Harumi no matter what the clan said. I know it's no excuse, but after what happened to mother and Ichiro, there was just something broken inside me."

"It's alright," Naruto told her, doing his best to comfort her, seeing how distraught she clearly was. "I abandoned Harumi too, and for worse reasons than you. At least you did it for the sake of your clan, instead of something as petty as vengeance."

"Given that is was for the sake of this clan, I have to disagree with you," Nanami replied tersely. "The clan was rotten before and it's only gotten worse. Despite my protests they've turned into a bunch of common mercenaries, doing anything for a bit of gold."

"I heard something to that effect at the entrance," Naruto agreed. "Also, I'll admit I don't think much of the clan myself."

"I have a favor to ask of you," Nanami said, suddenly growing somber again as she changed the subject. "If you ever see Harumi, tell her that I'm sorry, and that despite all the unforgivable things I did, I always loved her."

"Of course I will," Naruto promised, "but does that mean you don't know where she is?"

"She vanished less than a week after you did," she answered. "I wish I could help you, but I haven't heard anything of her since."

"Don't worry, I'll do my best to find her," Naruto assured her. "And I believe I can do something to help you. I hear you've been ill."

"Is that how they put it?" Nanami huffed out. "What they mean is that I'm dying, and they can't wait for me to hurry up and get it done with."

"You seem to catch dying a lot," Naruto quipped. "But I cured you the first time, and I don't see why this time should be any different."

However, summoning his aura around him, it wasn't the familiar white aura, but the red one he'd used in his recent battle. He certainly wasn't going to use _that _on Nanami, but why was it even red in the first place? He wasn't angry this time. He tried to will it to turn white, but it didn't have any effect.

"Is something wrong?" Nanami asked, seeing his frown.

"Just a little problem," Naruto answered. "Don't worry though, I'll figure it out."

* * *

Figuring it out proved to be more difficult than he'd anticipated, and Nanami was growing worse as the days passed. Naruto worked continuously on a solution, to the point that Nanami eventually begged him to stop. She insisted that if she were fated to die, they had to accept that, and she didn't want to waste what time they had left.

Naruto finally consented on the surface, although that didn't stop him from working on it whenever Nanami slept, using the power of the Biju to stave off his own need for rest. Even so, Nanami's condition worsened without any sign of progress on Naruto's part, and less than a month later, she passed away.

Naruto mourned deeply for his loss, but soon set out to serve her memory by fulfilling her dying wish. He started his search for Harumi in the surrounding villages, and expanded it further when he had no luck there.

Searching for some clue of Harumi became an obsession of Naruto's the lead him all across the continent. His quest continued fruitlessly for sixty years before he finally had to face the facts that he was never going to see her again. He could only hope that she'd been happy in whatever life she made for herself.

Now, if he followed through on her idea to free himself from the Biju, he might even see her, Nanami, and Hanabi again in the afterlife. To have that happen, he was willing to put in as much work as necessary, no matter how long it took. Given that he was a century and a half old but still looked twenty, he figured time was something he had no shortage of.

Naruto concluded that the best place to start his research would be the temples of the world. There was no better place to learn of spiritual matters such as souls. It was amusing how as a child he avoided lessons on the topic whenever possible, and now he planned to devote his life to such studies.

Thankfully, in the very first temple he visited, he learned enough chakra control to block out the Kyubi so he'd only hear him if he wished to. That was a huge relief to his sanity. As good as he'd gotten at ignoring Kyubi's complaints, he found it so refreshing to not have to hear them at all.

His progress on other matters were much less profitable. He learned from his very first temple that there was some kind of energy tied so deeply with his soul that they almost became one. Yet neither that temple, nor the ten after that had any idea how to separate them, or if such a thing was even possible.

Still, he learned everything he could concerning spiritual powers from each temple before moving on, hoping that some of it might prove useful. Some temples with masters of the art he would stay at for a decade or more. Others with no skilled practitioners he might remain in only a week until he was convinced they had nothing new to offer him.

Over time, it grew harder and harder to find a temple that had anything he hadn't already learned. At that point, it became clear he would have to blaze his own trail. Naruto still did most of his work in various temples around the world.

Another person to bounce ideas off of, give a fresh perspective, or help work on theory was too valuable an asset even if they were far less skilled than he was. He would even take years out of his time to train a promising student so that they could better grasp what he was trying to do.

This worked well for some time, but despite seeming to be no closer to a solution than when he'd started, Naruto had greatly advanced the field of spiritual studies. As such, it was taking more and more time to teach the priests and monks he worked with even the foundation necessary to have a basic understanding of the advanced concepts he was researching.

This was especially problematic, as virtually everyone with significant training to begin with was already well on in years. It wouldn't exactly do much good to train someone for a decade or two only to have them retire or worse.

He considered finding some young disciples to train from youth so they would have their whole life to catch up to Naruto's level and eventually help him. It was an interesting notion, but Naruto was pretty sure he would make more progress on his own than by raising a bunch of pupils in hopes they would help him later in life.

One thing Naruto did do was write down everything he'd learned on matters of chakra and its uses into one large book. He carried it around to a number of temples letting them make copies. His hopes was that with it as a guide, the students of those temples would be much more skilled should he visit them again decades later.

Perhaps they'd even do their own research and take it in a different direction than Naruto. They might expand on certain parts and have things to teach him when he returned. All in all, by the time Naruto finished distributing his book and set off to continue his quest on his own, he had spent over two hundred years traveling to and from the world's temples.

Not that his research into chakra and the human soul were the only things he did during that time. He picked up a number of other skills along the way. Cooking was one such example. Naruto had become a fairly competent cook from raising Harumi on his own.

Traveling the world by himself and given him lots of opportunity to practice. And since a good meal was great way to keep ones spirits up on a long road, Naruto made it a habit to pick up what recipes he could wherever he went. Naruto both could and had prepared a different dish for every meal for an entire year.

He'd also had chance to improve his skills in carpentry and add masonry to the list. Many temples were a bit on the rundown side, and Naruto was always happy to help with repairs, or even a few new construction projects. It was a simple physical task he could do while his mind still worked on other problems. Sometimes a bit of physical activity was just what he needed to get his creative juices flowing.

One other skill he'd been almost forced to pick up was swordsmithing. The roads were commonly filled with brigands who took him for an easy target. Even a well made sword didn't last forever, especially when Naruto got a bit too energetic with his fights.

After the first time he'd needed to replace his sword he realized that they weren't cheap. Sadly wandering around the world and studying at temples wasn't a great source of income. So he'd found some time to learn to make his own, as the raw materials were much cheaper.

Although the savings turned out not to be needed for long. On his travels, Naruto soon learned that with the roads being as dangerous as they were, people were willing to pay considerably more for a good produced in a far away city than that city charged to buy it.

Soon Naruto was doing a bit of a trading wherever he went and was astonished by how much coin he was able to make in that manner. Not that it stopped him from continuing his swordsmithing. It was another simple activity he could do while thinking over a problem, and he took pride is the ever higher quality swords he crafted. Naruto eventually even came up with a way to imbue them with chakra to make them much stronger and more durable.

Taking his spiritual studies, and all the other skills he'd learned, Naruto decided to withdraw from society completely for a time to work on a lesser problem that he believed he might finally be able to solve. Namely the corruption of the power the Biju had given him.

He wanted to solve this not just because it would be nice to be able to heal others with it again, but because it had impeded his studies as well. Even calling on the power was painful to him, and dangerous for anyone else to probe with their chakra.

Being able to examine the power in use could go a long way toward figuring out how to sever it from his soul. Unfortunately, the more deeply one probed, the more agonizing the pain, and he'd never been able to get as clear a look as he wanted at the heart of that mass.

During his years of travel, Naruto had successfully learned to purify the parts of his chakra that were corrupted. The issue was that the corruption would spread back to the areas he'd already purified from those he hadn't gotten to yet.

When Naruto had set himself up a little abode in a cave by a waterfall, he tried several different approaches to overcome that issue. Purifying faster than the red chakra could spread itself again proved all but hopeless.

Trying to charge up one big blast of purification looked more promising at first, but always missed thousands of tiny pockets of red chakra that would grown to many times their original size before Naruto could even track them down.

The method that showed the most promising involved a technique Naruto had discovered to split his chakra in two in such a way that they wouldn't mingle. He could then purify it one tiny piece at a time and quickly move it to the pure half before it could be corrupted.

This wasn't as easy as it sounded, as their was much that could go wrong. If he failed to completely purify the section he was going to move, it would pollute everything he'd already purified. If he was a little too slow to move it, it would already have been tainted before it was removed.

If he overcompensated for that had pulled it over too forcefully, he would bring along some of the chakra that had never been purified in the first place. If he lost his concentration for even a moment, the barrier separating the two halves would break down. If he failed in any of these areas, he would lose all the progress he'd made.

As if all of that weren't enough, his connection to the Biju gave him a **lot **of their special chakra. At the rate he was able to purify it, it would take him more than a month of constant work to clean it all. Not even to mention that he had to do it all while his body felt like it was on fire.

The level of frustration this caused was almost beyond describing. Early on he'd mess up hundreds of times in a single day, but as he got more skilled, he would frequently loose a whole week of work as fatigue set in and made him careless, which was even more demoralizing in his opinion.

He'd even had one attempt where he choked just minutes from completion. When all was said and done, Naruto's efforts paid off and the Biju's chakra was as pure white as it had ever been. The price he had paid to do so was over hundred years of solitude as best as Naruto could figure.

He'd lost track of the exact number of years somewhere along the way. One thing that was certain was that he was going to be _very _careful to never let his rage pollute that chakra again. Now, however, he could finally get back to the reason he'd started this journey to begin with.

Naruto spent the next few years making the greatest strides into his understanding of the Biju ever. He didn't yet have any ideas for a solution, but for the first time in a long time it actually felt like he would eventually find one.

Even no longer needing solitude, he might have stayed in that cave for many years to come if his training had been interrupted by a howl of rage from the Kyubi that smashed through all the barriers he'd put up to prevent being bothered by the leader of the Biju.

Not appreciating the interruption, he tried to query Kyubi as to what had possessed him to do that. When he got no answer he became more than a little annoyed and continued to send ever increasing numbers of questions Kyubi's way.

Still receiving nothing but silence in answer he gathered his power and gave his own blast across the line to pay him back for the one that had caught Naruto by surprise. That caused a reaction as he heard a yelp through the connection.

That was followed by a quick thanks with no explanation for why before he went silent again. Trying to question him further made it clear that Kyubi was now blocking Naruto's attempts to chat, much as Naruto had been doing for centuries.

Giving up on that route, Naruto decided to make a more direct investigation. With all the power flowing through their link, Naruto had been able to sense more or less where the Kyubi had been. When he completed the journey, what he found was a large valley with a waterfall that looked to have taken some major damage recently.

That was almost certainly the Kyubi's work, but he could find no signs of where the Biju had gone or what had precipitated this rampage. Deciding to search the surrounding countryside, Naruto was surprised to find a nearby village that seemed to be run by Ninja.

Back before he'd become a hermit, ninja were already popping up like weeds, but he'd never imagined them getting together and forming their own community. And looking at this Konoha, it was a decent sized village too.

They were currently celebrating a major victory of their leader had over some guy names Uchiha Madara, but Naruto cared little about that. There was no mention of the Kyubi, and Naruto soon gave up on finding any leads there. Leaving he continued searching around the area before smoke drew him to a second, much smaller village.

At first he thought he might have found the lead he needed, but it only took a glance at the devastated town to realize this had been the work of men. He'd seen situations like this before and knew what would have happened. A group of armed men had come in, killed all the villagers, looted it for valuables, then, just because the could, set everything left on fire.

To his surprise, Naruto's finely tuned senses detected that someone was still alive in there. Hurrying to the source, he heard crying coming from under the rubble of a collapsed building that was still partially burning.

Permeating the rubble with his chakra, he got an image in his mind of exactly how it was distributed. Then, taking out his sword, he cut a path to the source of the crying, doing his best to avoid removing anything that was holding up the rest of the mess.

He still barely had time to grab the small girl that had been buried and pull her free before the whole thing collapsed in on itself again. Looking over the sobbing little brown-haired girl who couldn't have been more than five, he saw that she was in terrible shape. Her legs had been crushed under whatever had pinned her, she had some nasty burns, and she was still coughing from the smoke between sobs.

Still, it was a miracle she was alive at all. She had managed to hide from the robbers and survive a burning building falling on top of her. To add to her luck, she was found by possibly the only person in the world able to heal her. Some kami must be watching out for the little girl.

Summoning his white chakra, and still relishing how pure it felt, he forced it into the small frame he held. The burns quickly faded away, and the coughing stopped soon after. The legs took a while longer, but eventually there wasn't so much as bruise to show they had been crushed just minutes ago. The sobbing slowed to sniffles as Naruto finished healing the girl.

"You'll be alright now, little girl," he said soothing. "What's your name?"

The girl just looked at him wordlessly.

"What does your mother call you?" he asked, trying again to get a name from her, but she just started sobbing again instead.

Naruto cursed himself for a fool. He was standing here in the middle of this carnage interrogating the poor girl and bringing up a mother that was probably one of the corpses spread around the village. Cradling the child, he ran off, heading out into the woods and away from the scene.

However, even when he had set up camp well away from the scene of destruction, the girl still refused to say a word. He wondered if she might be mute, but considering she wouldn't so much as nod her head yes or no in answer to questions, it was more likely a result of her recent trauma.

Having raised two girls himself, Naruto had more than a bit of a soft spot for them, and felt compelled to try to help, even though he wasn't sure what to do. In the end he just decided to talk to her. He knew she wouldn't answer any questions so instead he told her stories.

He recited a few fairy tales at first, but somehow he got into talking a bit about his own life and just ran with it from there. Nothing profound like his life goal or his family, he wanted to keep the stories as light and cheerful as possible. So he talked about adventures he had been on, places he'd seen, funny stories he could remember.

She would listen intently to all of them. She also ate whenever he served her food, meals which Naruto did his best to ensure were top-notch. Yet she stubbornly remained silent. However, if she were trying to outlast him, she picked the wrong person. Naruto had lived a _very _long life and had no shortage of tales to tell. Finally, after a week long story time, the girl spoke up.

"Ko-chan," she said simply.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Naruto replied, not sure what to make of her words, but thrilled she'd spoken them.

"My mother called me Ko-chan," she clarified.

"Well then Ko-chan, I know you just went through something terrible, but how about would you like it if I found someone nice to take care of you?"

"I want to stay with you," Ko-chan replied stubbornly.

"I'm afraid my life isn't a good one for raising children," he said in attempt to dissuade her. "Besides, I abandoned the last little girl I brought up, probably best not to get too attached. I'll find you a real family, a great one. You'll be much happier that way."

The girl didn't look convinced, but neither did she argue. He just hoped she wouldn't lapse back into silence over this. Naruto took the girl back to Konoha, that seeming as good a place as any to look for someone to take her in.

Finding Ko-chan a family was slightly problematic at first. It seemed a village of ninja had its fair share of orphans already. Naruto was a determined person, however, and had quite a few resources at his disposal.

They may not use any of the coins he had on him anymore, but gold was still valuable. Once he'd greased a few palms, Ko-chan was soon being shown around to some nice potential families. From there, one was quickly found that would take her, although that was mostly due to the girl's innate sweetness and charm.

Despite them being more than financially capable of taking care of her on their own, Naruto left them a little something to thank them for efforts. Their eyes had nearly bugged out on just how much that 'little something' was. Then, so he wouldn't feel too guilty about basically cutting the line for Ko-chan, he gave a slightly larger donation to the orphanage, to help take care of those children.

Finally, he prepared to say his goodbyes. Before he could go, Ko-chan insisted they needed to get a picture together. This seemed a reasonable request, so Naruto said he'd go find a painter, a statement that elicited a laugh from the child.

"No, with a camera, silly," she said.

Naruto didn't recognize what a camera picture was, but not wanting to admit that, simply said that it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Asking around the town had confirmed that to be the case, and he was soon standing with Ko-chan in front of a man with a rather strange contraption.

It was a large box over a foot on each side that was resting on three metal legs. The man who was going to be using this 'camera' ducked his head under a curtain behind the box and held up a strange T shaped rod of some sort.

"Hold still and smile," the man told them.

As confused as he still was, Naruto did as he was told and was soon treated to a bright flash of light from the rod, which then started to smoke a bit. He wouldn't have thought that was supposed to happen, but neither the man nor Ko-chan seemed at all surprised.

Naruto had to wait until the next day for the picture to 'develop,' but he was quite interested in the result. The picture was limited in color to white and different shades of gray, but other than that seemed to capture the scene more accurately than any painting he'd ever seen.

They even had two copies of which Naruto couldn't find the slightest variation between them. Mystery still unsolved, he nonetheless took one for himself, while Ko-chan kept the other. Then he said his goodbyes and went on his way.

* * *

Having put aside his quest to find the Kyubi, Naruto decided to make another tour of the world's temples. He could see if his book had borne any fruit. What he found in temple after temple was an almost disgusting level of incompetence.

The only temple that had been at all worth his time was run by a priest who had once trained to be a ninja. He had this amusing little technique called a Bunshin that would create an insubstantial copy of the user.

Naruto learned it quickly, and his mind was already going through some possibilities. Perhaps there would be some way to create a copy of himself and trick ritual into taking it instead of him. It was certainly worth looking into.

With that in mind Naruto began experimenting with modifying and improving the Bunshin ability as he traveled around. The temples may have been mostly a waste of time, but the cities and villages proved to be quite educational. It was shocking how much civilization had changed while he'd been out of the loop.

Cameras were only the start of it, what with electricity, and light bulbs and all manner of strange machines. It was also continuing to change at what seemed lightning speed to Naruto as they were constantly coming up with new innovations over the sixty years he'd traveled.

He'd made much progress with his Bunshin as well. Naruto had improved the technique to use the elements to make a copy that would fool a doctor and leave a corpse when it 'died.' And using his extensive knowledge of chakra, he could make it indistinguishable from him to anyone's spiritual senses as well.

At least if they didn't probe deep enough to where they'd find Naruto's connection to the Biju, which he could not copy in any clones. Nor did it change the fact that it was still a soulless creation. The soul was the important part too. No matter how similar the body, it could never replace him in the ritual even if he did find some way to finish it before he was yanked through as well by the chain on his soul.

He could leave behind a body with all his memories and personality, but without his soul it still couldn't move on to any afterlife, and the original Naruto would be stuck with the Biju. No, it had been an interesting thought, but it was almost certainly just another dead end.

His tour around the world was eventually cut short when he finally felt a tinge of the Kyubi again. He'd been watching his connection closely for the last sixty years, and that had finally paid off. Naruto had no idea where the Kyubi had been, but he figured it might be related to the first incident. As such he should start his search there.

The plan was a sound one, as before he'd even completely arrived, he sensed the Kyubi much stronger than before and not too far from valley he'd found near Konoha. Redoubling his efforts, he soon found the Kyubi, rampaging wildly. There were several dead bodies around the Biju that looked to be ninja from the nearby Konoha.

Naruto tried calling out to Kyubi, starting through his link and after that physically, but the first had no effect and the second only made him the enraged Biju's new target. Dodging a swing from a claw Naruto's mind was racing furiously trying to come up with a way to dispel whatever madness had possessed the Kyubi before more lives were lost. Particularly his own.

He tried blasting energy through their link, but that proved futile. Dodging another claw swipe, Naruto decided maybe a more direct application of his energy was in order. Summoning up as much of his white chakra as he could, Naruto focused a huge portion of it around his fist, until it was blazing almost as brightly as the sun.

Charging the Kyubi, he dodged a tail lash, and another attempt to shred him with a claw before jumping into the air and socking the Kyubi to the jaw with his charged fist. The blow wouldn't really have added anything to the process, and Naruto could have just as easily projected his aura at the Kyubi, but he had simply felt an irresistible urge to punch the stupid fox.

He was hopeful his plan had worked, as the fox shook his head and the fury seemed to fade out of him. "Naruto, it seems you've freed me again," Kyubi said, physically speaking to him for the first time since he was six.

"I assume you're referring to what happened sixty years ago," Naruto replied, "but what's this about freeing you?"

"We have been in your realm far longer than we ever should have stayed," Kyubi informed him. "The time has left us weaker and put great strain upon us. It drove the Ichibi mad to the point that the humans had to seal him away. Even I have been left vulnerable to manipulation."

"I'd like to meet the person who was brave enough to 'manipulate' you," Naruto quipped, although in truth he was quite impressed with the feat.

"You would do well to stay away from Uchiha Madara," Kyubi warned him. "I will attempt to do so as well. However, he has already found me twice, and I suspect he will a third time. The world will surely suffer when he does. That is, unless you perform your role as the conduit, as is your duty."

"If this is so terrible for all of you, why don't you just release me as I've asked all along?" Naruto inquired. "Find someone else to be your conduit and this can all be over."

"It is not that I will not release you," Kyubi answered. "Even I cannot break the bonds that tie us while we yet remain in the realm of man."

"I don't believe you!" Naruto shouted at him. "All these years you've been saying you wouldn't. If you couldn't, that why not come right out and say so before now?"

"You were morning the loss of your wife," Kyubi explained. "I have been led to believe humans act irrationally under such circumstances. I was concerned if you knew there was no hope you might simply kill yourself out of spite."

"And you don't think hundreds of years is a bit long to wait to tell me?" Naruto snapped back. "How long to you think humans remain 'irrational?'"

"I may have erred," the Kyubi admitted. "It is difficult for me to think of spans of time in the same way as you mortals."

Naruto was beginning to believe the Kyubi's words. He supposed it really didn't change much. He'd been living on the assumption that the Biju wouldn't release him, just because they couldn't didn't change the fact that he'd have to find a way himself. That didn't mean the Kyubi's explanation hadn't left him bitter.

"You seem awfully worried about me killing myself," Naruto pointed out. "What would happen if I did so now?"

"We would still return to our world, and you with us," he answered. "However, if we return improperly in that manner, we would lose the thread that binds our world together. We would never be able to find it again to return."

"Yeah, and where would you be without a bunch of humans to boss around, huh?" Naruto jeered.

"There are more ninja on the way," Kyubi informed him, not being provoked by his words. "I suggest you depart, as they may not take kindly to your presence here."

The Kyubi took his own advice and raced off. Naruto attempted to follow him, but couldn't keep up with the Biju, weakened or not. At least he seemed to have lost those ninja that were heading his way.

* * *

Minato didn't know what to make of this situation. He'd received reports of the Kyubi rampaging toward the village. Yet the beast had simply killed of their front line of defense and then fled for reasons unknown.

"Recall all ninja ranked Chunin or higher," he ordered to the ninja that accompanied him. "Stay on high alert. Triple the number of scouts we have in the field and have them searching out twice as far as usual."

He hoped the Kyubi truly was gone, but he wasn't about to take any chances. He had a feeling they'd be seeing it again some day. He just prayed that day wasn't anytime soon.

* * *

Given that one of them had managed to perform some sort of mind control the Kyubi himself, Naruto was beginning to think that it might be worth investigating these ninja to see what techniques they had. If nothing else, he might want to look up the Madara guy, despite Kyubi's warnings. Perhaps he could influence the Biju to force them to help him find a way to break their link.

Still, before he did that, he wanted to look into the other Biju. Kyubi's news about the Ichibi going mad had him a bit worried. In a way, any death caused by the Biju could be lain at his feet and Naruto's conscience wouldn't let him ignore that threat.

So, he started another journey around the world, this time trying to find the Biju. Locating them proved slightly troublesome. As their whereabouts tended to be rather closely guarded secrets, he wasn't able to exactly locate them all. However, in less than five years, he was able to at least confirm that all of them, save the Kyubi, had been safely sealed.

So it was finally time to look into what tricks the ninja had, and what better place to start than in Konoha?

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Prologue chapters complete. As I said in the foreword, this turned out much longer than I anticipated. I did extend the chapter a little beyond what I'd planned, deciding I wanted to include Kyubi's attack and show that Minato was alive.

Still, I kept getting ideas of things I wanted to add, most of which were quite small. However the bit about his chakra remaining tainted was an idea I came up with while writing this chapter that just fit so well I couldn't leave it out despite all the extra writing it added.

Anyway, the pacing will slow down starting with chapter 4, which I consider chapter 1 of the main story. It will cover less than a decade in all, an absolutely glacial pace, I know. One thing I do want to assure everyone is that I'm not just going to forget about Harumi like that. You will find out the details of what happened to her. Some of you have already guessed it in part.

Now, I think this chapter ended at a great place to lead to wild speculation over what will happen next. Also, like last chapter, there was a hint to an important plot point dropped. I guarantee you didn't miss this one without skipping down to the Author's Notes, but you may have easily failed to make the connection. It is tied to a much less prominent piece of Naruto canon.


	4. The Plan

If there was one thing Naruto had learned about ninja when he was searching out the location of the Biju it was that they tended to be a very secretive and suspicious lot. This was particularly true of anything that could be useful as a weapon. So he hardly expected to be able to walk in and ask politely for them to teach him everything they knew.

Instead Naruto decided he'd just sneak in during the night and borrow whatever he needed. Now the question was, where to look? That large tower seemed as good a place to start as any. Spotting a man in black robes with a strange white mask prowling the rooftops, Naruto politely asked to use his costume.

So he had already knocked the man out first. His request was still the very height of etiquette and the man spoke no objections. Donning his newfound robes, Naruto made his way for the tower. Ninja may have a reputation for stealth, but Naruto was confident that not one of them could mask their chakra half as well as he could. They liked to simply suppress their chakra to the best of their abilities. But even if they were completely successful, one could still detect that if they knew what to look for.

Even the air had tiny traces of chakra in it, especially in an area full of so many people constantly giving it off. A complete lack of chakra could be sensed with enough training. The true way to hide oneself is to have your chakra mimic the flows of the air itself, a highly complicated technique that as far as he knew, he was the only person to ever master.

Sneaking into the tower proved simple; finding anything of value was much more challenging. He wandered around for quite some time, avoiding patrols as he went, but they didn't seem to leave writings on their techniques just lying around in the hallways.

Naruto continued to work his way up the tower, searching it floor by floor when he felt a small surge of chakra from right where his foot had just stepped. It was probably designed so that the person who triggered wouldn't even notice, but to Naruto's developed senses, it may as well have been a bonfire.

Naruto had to appreciate the effective simplicity of the trap. No matter how good he got at remaining unnoticed, he still had to walk to get anywhere. So a simple little seal that detected pressure on the floor above it could undo all the work he'd put into stealth. Naruto knew he had to get out of there quickly, as it would have warned whoever had left the trap of his presence. Still, he'd expected a little more than two seconds before he sensed someone behind him.

"What are you doing in this part of the tower?" a voice demanded to know from behind him.

Spinning around, Naruto saw a man in red and white robes glaring at him suspiciously. Yet it wasn't his robes that caught Naruto's attention. To his great shock, the man's face looked exactly like his father's had. Now Naruto had been around the world a few times, and he'd seen a number of people who looked very similar despite being unrelated.

Not to mention that it had been over five hundred years since Naruto had last seen his father looking so young. No matter how important a person was in one's life, the details of how they looked faded over time. In fact, if just that morning Naruto had been asked to draw his father's face, it probably wouldn't have looked much like the man in front of him at all.

So logically, Naruto should just write it off as a superficial resemblance that caused his mind to draw a stronger connection that truly existed. Still, deep down he couldn't bring himself to believe that. Something about that face just resonated with his memory and told him that this was _exactly _what his father had looked like.

This entire thought process had taken only a few seconds as Naruto's mind was racing at top speed. Even so, either the delay in a response was too long, or perhaps some of Naruto's surprise had somehow been noticeable despite the robe and mask. Whatever the reason, his father's doppelganger attacked, hurling a strange pronged dagger at his head.

Naruto leaned to the side to let it pass. His gaze was instinctively drawn to a unfamiliar seal attached to the hilt of the weapon, despite knowing that you shouldn't take your eyes off your opponent when you fight. His curiosity probably saved him a nasty stab wound, however, when his attacker appeared in front of his eyes right next to the dagger, grabbed hold of it again, and attempted to carve open his chest.

Naruto was certain this hadn't been a simple burst of speed. Thanks to his curiosity, Naruto had a perfect view of the man's reappearance, and their was no actual movement involved. Judging by the chakra radiated by the seal on the dagger right before the feat, the chakra imbued writing was somehow involved. That would explain its presence on the weapon.

Naruto narrowly avoided the attack that followed the teleportation technique and continued to struggle with dodging subsequent attempts to shred him to pieces. It was clear that his adversary was significantly faster than he was. This fight was making Naruto wish he'd done more to keep his body in shape. Although as fast as the other blond was moving, he might have been a match for Naruto even in his prime. Back when he was a young man of ninety on a mad quest for vengeance.

If he used his white chakra, things would be much different. But given the relationship between man and Biju these days, just sensing that power could cause a panic in Konoha, something he had no desire to do. Besides, Naruto could heal most any wound if it came to that, so he could afford to take some risks.

Not to mention that, while his body was out of shape and sluggish, his chakra abilities were better than they'd ever been. Now to start pulling from his bag of tricks to find a way to get out of here. For his first ploy he actually shifted his entire chakra aura one foot to the right, hoping this would cause some confusion.

It worked even better than he'd anticipated, as the man seemed to be trained to trust his senses over his own eyes and was focusing his attacks on the projection. Using the distraction, Naruto was able to avoid the assault and leap out a nearby window, landing on the roof of another building below.

His pursuer followed, quickly learning the truth of Naruto's technique and adjusting his attacks. Even so, now he had to think about them slightly rather than simply relying on instinct. For fights on this level, the tiny moment of hesitation that caused made a noticeable difference, and Naruto found it less of a struggle to keep his hide intact.

He still had a disadvantage in speed, but staying alive wasn't quite as difficult as winning a fight. Seeing as his opponent relied so heavily on his chakra sense, Naruto decided to play with his a bit more. Tearing a tile off the roof he was standing on, he imbued it with a bit of chakra and flung it at his target.

The blond easily dodged it, but as soon as it had passed behind him, Naruto made the chakra in the tile flare to many times its previous strength. The technique itself was harmless, but as Naruto had hoped, the ninja didn't know that. Sensing the buildup of power, he turned to defend himself from whatever it signified.

Naruto used the distraction to dash in and slip a punch through his guard sending him crashing to the street below and creating a small crater. Then, hurrying to make his escape before he had a chance to recover, Naruto jumped down onto the road on the opposite side of the building.

Then, he projected his chakra aura further out while simultaneously masking his actual body as well as he could. Finishing that process in a moment, he quickly jumped up and clung to the overhanging roof, hiding himself from the sight of anyone who wasn't standing beneath him. Meanwhile, he was sending his projection further out, as if continuing to run away down the alley.

Once his projection turned another corner he winked it out of existence. His plan again proved successful as he sensed the his assailant running off in the direction his projection had been headed before it disappeared. Slipping down from his hiding spot, Naruto ran off in the opposite direction. He easily made it to the wall and away from the village without seeing any sign of pursuit.

Reflecting on his recent ordeal, it had been far more exciting than he'd anticipated. Of course seeing that teleportation trick had only made Naruto all the more determined to pump these ninja for whatever they had. Not to mention the mystery around his father's lookalike.

* * *

"So, what was that ruckus all about last night?" Sarutobi asked Minato after strolling into his office.

"We had a spy break into the Hokage Tower," he answered. "He stole an Anbu uniform from one of our guards on duty and started snooping around."

"Who was the victim?" Sarutobi asked, his face turning grim.

"Surprisingly enough, the man was merely unconscious," Minato informed him. "The only thing injured was his pride."

"Well, we can be thankful for that," the former Hokage declared, cheering up a big. "Our enemies aren't usually so kind. Sadly that makes our allies the prime suspects. They most likely wanted to reduce the political fallout if he was captured. Do we know what he was after?"

"No," Minato answered. "Our analysis shows it was unlikely he got whatever he was looking for before he set off a detection seal. I'm more worried that he might come back."

"Oh? Was he that dangerous?" Sarutobi inquired.

"I confronted him myself and he managed to escape unharmed," Minato admitted, which left his predecessor suitably impressed. "He seemed to be some sort of genjutsu specialist, although his taijutsu wasn't bad either. Whatever he was doing it was very subtle, such as throwing my chakra senses off so it felt like something was in a slightly different location or had much more chakra in it that it really did."

"That's very odd," Sarutobi muttered it reply. "Usually genjutsu focuses on the other five senses. It certainly can manipulate your sixth sense, but since that's so much harder, why affect that but not the others as well? It only makes it obvious you're under genjutsu."

"It made for a clever trick though," Minato explained. "For those very reasons I assumed it was my sight that was wrong. Also, I was having trouble breaking free. I'm not a genjutsu expert myself, but it's possible it's harder free yourself under such conditions."

"I can see how that would work," Sarutobi agreed. "Clever fellow whoever he is."

"That's not the worst part either," Minato told him. "He had a sword strapped to his side but never used it. He might be even more deadly with kenjutsu. His priority was obviously fleeing, most likely lacking confidence that he could take the Yellow Flash. If he'd run into someone else though ..."

"We'd have to hope he'd avoid killing even when his own life was on the line," Sarutobi finished for him, not even bothering to mention exactly how likely they both knew that was. "Nor can we be sure he was a spy instead of an assassin."

"You understand my dilemma then," Minato said morosely. "He may not give up on his mission so quickly when we weren't even able to identify him."

"Fine, I'll help watch the tower when you can't be there," Sarutobi offered. "I know that's what you're after."

"Thank you," Minato told him graciously, glad he didn't have to come out and ask him.

Minato knew the elderly man was trying to enjoy his retirement, but he felt it was important. He just couldn't shake the feeling that they'd be seeing more of their mystery man.

* * *

Rather than immediately make another attempt at the tower, Naruto set his sights a little lower. He'd search other parts of the village, hopefully with less security, while things settled down from his first break-in. He might be able to gather a little intel first.

It didn't take much eavesdropping around the village to discover that there were a number of clans living within the walls each with their own special techniques. Supposedly they kept these guarded in their compounds built throughout Konoha.

Deciding to start there, Naruto began to raid those locations. He had much better luck with security, not even being detected as far as he knew, but his results weren't what he hoped. Some of the buildings he couldn't find anything of use in. Others, he found scrolls that looked promising, but as they were in some sort of code, they could have been a recipe for soup as far as he knew.

He'd only come away with two real scrolls, and both were very basic stuff. Not that he wasn't pleased to have them, as they covered the general theory behind hand seals and genjutsu, both being new fields of study to him. Nevertheless, his original plan was looking less and less promising.

He supposed it only made sense that they wouldn't leave their most closely guarded secrets lying around on scrolls that just anyone could pickup and read. And if the clans had such security, what were the odds of finding anything useful in the Hokage Tower? At least he did know that's what it was now. And the man who looked like has father had been the Yondaime, Namikaze Minato.

Naruto decided to continue his raids for the moment while he thought up a new plan, but the second compound he visited temporarily pushed all thoughts of new techniques out of his mind. For right before his eyes were proof that the Hyuga Clan had settled in Konoha.

Technically having married into the clan or not, Naruto had little love for the Hyuga. As such, he had never been particularly interested in searching them out, even after all his years away from them. Still, having them right here in front of his eyes, he couldn't help but be a bit curious.

Naruto knew those eyes of theirs would make this a particularly dangerous complex to sneak into undetected. Still, it was the middle of the night. As long as their guards didn't make a habit of keeping their Byakugan active, he should be fine.

Sticking to the shadows outside the complex, he approached one guard they had posted at the entrance. Extending his senses, he ever so faintly brushed them against the man's eyes, looking for the hint of chakra that would show they were active.

Finding nothing of the sort, he was about to move on when he sensed something else. There was a small source of chakra, but coming from the forehead, not the eyes. Adjusting his focus, he scanned the area to find some sort of seal in place. Probing it carefully, so as not to alert the guard of what he was doing he tried to figure out just what it was.

It was a fairly complex piece of work, but Naruto had enough experience with seals that he could work out a general idea of it's purpose. It looked as if the person who placed the seal could activate it to cause pain to the person wearing it. If he was right, they might even be able to kill the person.

Was this some sort of punishment for something the man had done? Naruto had to wonder what sort of act would deserve a seal as nasty as that. Anyway, safe from the Byakugan for now, Naruto hopped the fence and began to explore inside the compound.

He found a number of other Hyuga, mostly sleeping or preparing to join those who were. The startling part was that almost all of them had exactly the same seal as the man at the entrance. It seemed as if this was more than just a punishment. The seal must be some way to ensure the loyalty of the clan to its leadership.

Nanami had said the clan was rotten and getting worse. He wondered if she'd had any idea how prophetic her words would be. More than once Naruto had been ashamed of the name he'd taken from his wife, but he never would have imagined them capable of something this disgusting.

Naruto was half tempted to make a scene right then and there. He could find the people responsible for the seal and beat some sense into them. No, thinking it through it's not like a few people could have forced the rest of the of the clan into this. At some point in the clan's history they must have agreed to have it put on them.

As far as Naruto was concerned, the Hyuga had made their own bed and they could lie in it. Naruto would just treat them like any clan from here on out. No, even that was too kind. Naruto didn't want anything to do with them from here on out if he could avoid it.

Deciding to take some time to clear his head, Naruto began to simply walk around the village. It was a nice quiet midnight walk until a couple of drunks stumbled out of a bar in front of him. The two were complaining quite loudly about a small border village named Hibana that had just been wiped out. They blamed Kumo for it, but proclaimed loudly that the Yondaime would avenge them.

Naruto said a quick prayer for the souls of those who were slain. It was sad to see civilians drawn into a war like that. Although the beginnings of an idea were forming in his mind. It might seem a little crass to take advantage of a tragedy, but it's not like this idea would harm them in any way.

Leaving the village and heading into the woods, Naruto decided to get to work. He crafted a Bunshin of a small child in raggedy old clothing. It looked like a five-year-old version of himself and was dirty, disheveled, and thinner than a healthy child should be.

Looking the clone over, it did make for a very sad sight, but it felt like something was missing. Naruto had heard the Yondaime could be a bit of a soft touch at times, but he wanted something that would really pull at his heartstrings. Quickly, Naruto realized what was missing and dispelled the clone.

Naruto then replaced the half-starved young boy with a half-starved young girl that could have been the twin sister of his first attempt. Maybe it was just because he'd raised two himself, but Naruto felt a little girl would be harder to say no to than a little boy given an equally sad appearance.

Examining his clone, he was convinced he'd made a wise decision. The clothes that were barely a step above rags, the long, blonde, tangled hair that was an absolute mess, the overly thin frame. Naruto felt a twinge of guilt just making something that looked to be in such a terrible state.

Pleased with his results, he went to work on his own personal modification of the bunshin. Earth from the ground swelled up to be joined by water from a nearby stream and the air from around the clone. As they merged together, his creation went from being a mere illusion to very much solid.

Naruto provided the fire and lightning himself by shifting his chakra to match the appropriate element. Having a working base, Naruto then set himself to refining it. He spent the better part of a week poking and prodding at it. Like an artisan he relentlessly worked out all the imperfections that would set it apart from a real human.

He worked the chakra coils until the chakra flowed through the body as smoothly as it would a natural one. Naruto was finally satisfied that there was nothing he could sense about the clone that felt at all off. It was probably significantly better than would be needed for this small bit of theater, but better to err on the side of caution.

The only way the Yondaime would know something was off was if he probed deeply enough to detect the lack of a soul. Such an endeavor required deep meditation and was out of the reach of all but the greatest experts without your target being both trained to aid you and cooperative. Even if the Yondaime was one of those experts, Naruto couldn't see anything that would make him suspicious of this sad little girl being a soulless clone.

Naruto finally finished the process by completing the part of the bunshin technique that would imbue it with his own memories and personality. With it now animated, Naruto supervised as it practiced looking as downtrodden as possible and refined a truly deadly set of puppy-dog eyes.

When he was convinced they were ready Naruto set about getting the other actors ready. Creating two more clones, Naruto formed them into the seediest looking men he could manage, one with a sword, and the other armed with a pair of knives. He would have liked to have spent more time on them, but as his ploy was less likely to work if he waited too long, Naruto only spent a few hours on them.

They would seem normal enough, and would bleed when stabbed, but they'd only last a few days at most before the whole technique collapsed on itself. Not to mention that a close inspection would find any number of things wrong with them. Non-functioning organs and the like as the bodies were kept animated simply from the chakra of the jutsu. Hopefully it would be enough. If all went according to plan, they wouldn't factor in long enough for anyone to give them a careful examination.

Now, everything was finally in place, so it was time to set things in motion. Naruto grabbed the Anbu costume he stolen on his first attempt to break into the Hokage Tower and donned it again. Snooping around the outside of the tower, Naruto reached out his senses until he located the Yondaime. Good. There wouldn't be much point in going through with this if he was away today.

Entering the tower, Naruto went straight back to the hallway he was caught in last time. If they had such security there, it was probably to protect something interesting. Just because he meant to get caught, didn't mean he couldn't look for valuables first. Not planning to make the same mistake twice, Naruto jumped up to the ceiling, using chakra to hold himself there.

Now to see how prepared they were for people walking along upside down. Naruto continued on confidently until he felt a familiar flash of chakra. Apparently they were much more prepared for this avenue of approach than he'd suspected. That's what he got from trying to steal from a village of ninja.

Naruto wasn't about to wait for the Hokage to show up this time, or even worry about going to the nearest window. Instead, he ran straight to the outer wall and burst through it. Landing, he took off running for the village wall as fast as he could. For a while, he'd almost worried he wasn't being chased, as he made it halfway there without being impeded.

That proved to be the least of his worries as a kunai sped past him, allowing the Yondaime to teleport to it and block Naruto's path. Altering his course, Naruto dodged around him, trying to continue on toward the village wall. He was completely avoiding a fight, putting everything he had into speed as he worked to escape Konoha as quickly as possible.

The blond Hokage was not making this very easy. Escaping from someone faster than you is hard enough even if they aren't teleporting all over the place. Naruto could only credit adrenaline and pure determination for doing as well as he did. He couldn't afford to let any other pursuit catch them, as any delay might ruin everything.

Once he'd gotten on the right side of the Yondaime again, he'd made sure to bat down every kunai that came his way with a sword, preventing the man from ever using it to get in front of him again. He also made a couple of halfhearted swiped at the ninja, just enough to keep him wary. Then whenever he got a moment's reprieve, he sprinted full speed, eating up as much ground as he could.

Naruto made it over the wall somehow, immediately wishing he'd set the stage a little closer to the village. He knew there would've been too much risk of someone else spotting his clone if he did, but there was certainly a lot of risk with this approach too.

Taking to the forest did help somewhat. The Yondaime slowed down whenever he lost sight of Naruto for a moment behind some cover, most likely wary of an ambush. This development was just the advantage Naruto needed to reach his goal.

His chakra was burning brightly, allowing his clones to sense him coming, resulting in a girlish scream. Changing his course, as if in reaction to it, Naruto went straight for the sound, coming out of the forest as it opened to a small road. The scene he saw was just as he'd planned it. One man, was holding a screaming girl up in the air by her arm while holding a knife in front of her menacingly. Meanwhile another man stood nearby watching with a grin.

When the girl saw Naruto, she started calling out for help, but Naruto continued past. The Yondaime, however, reacted the moment he popped out of the forest hot on Naruto's heals. The clone holding the knife quickly found his breathing stopped permanently by a kunai through its throat. Naruto ducked into the forest on the other side of the path and suppressed his presence as he watched.

To his displeasure, rather than simply killing the second man, the young Hokage was holding him with a blade to his throat. If he was going to take him prisoner, he might notice there was something off about his captive. Not to mention that it would ruin the mood for the next phase of his plan.

Thinking fast, Naruto leaped back out from hiding, swiftly but stealthily approaching the Yondaime from behind as if to catch him off guard. However, when he thrust his sword out at his back, his target teleported out of the way, just as he'd hoped, appearing next to the dead clone. His momentum carrying him forward, the sword instead went into the clone that had just been released when its captor vanished, killing it instantly.

Naruto was already worried that not making good on his escape would seem suspicious, so he tried to keep some of that suspicion from spreading to the sole living clone. He did this by flinging the corpse of the still skewered clone at where the fake girl was cowering. At the speed it had been hurled, it would likely prove fatal if it hit.

This also had the benefit of giving him time to escape again when the Yondaime jumped in front of the makeshift weapon and batted it away. Not sticking around this time, Naruto hid his chakra and plunged deeper into the forest.

"Now, on to Act II," Naruto whispered to himself.

* * *

Naruto watched as his real body escaped into the forest, the blond Hokage deciding to stay rather than give pursuit. Thrilled by his decision, Naruto ran to the man, doing a pretty good job with the fake tears if he said so himself.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Naruto called out, latching onto his side and holding tightly. "I was so scared!"

"Don't worry about it," he replied, "but what are you doing out here by yourself? Where are your parents?"

"They say dad left before I was born," Naruto lied, "and mom died a long time ago. I don't remember her very good."

"Well, who takes care of you then?" the Yondaime asked.

"The villagers gave me food," he answered, "but I didn't like it there so I ran away to find my big brother. I was going to the ninja village because they're supposed to be good at finding people. I even brought money."

Naruto dug through a pocket and pulled out a few coins that wouldn't even have been enough to buy a decent meal. "Is this enough?" he asked trying to work up some moisture in his eyes again for effect.

"It's plenty," he assured Naruto, proving Minato was as kindhearted as he'd heard. "What's your brother's name?"

"Big brother is big brother," Naruto told him unhelpfully. "I don't remember him very good either, but you have to help me find him. I don't want to go back to the village."

"Well do you know where he lives?" he asked, to which Naruto just shrugged.

"You're not exactly giving me a lot to work with here," he sighed. "Well, at least let me know what your name is."

"Naruko," he chirped out happily.

"What about your full name?" he asked. "People call be Minato, but my full name is Namikaze Minato."

Naruto wrinkled his eyebrows and put on an overly serious expression as children often did to show they were supposed to be deep in thought.

"No, don't worry about it if you can't remember," he said after a few seconds of that. "We can get that much at least from your village. Where are you from?"

"Hibana," Naruto claimed, seeing a startled expression on his face that proved he had heard that bit of news.

"Is something wrong?" Naruto asked, deciding his reaction was strong enough even a child would have caught it.

"No, nothing to worry about," he quickly answered. "I'm sure we'll find your brother."

"Right," Naruto said, letting a broad smile form on the face he'd so carefully crafted. "I'm sure you can do anything. You were so cool when you were fighting the bad guys. How did you do that thing where you where over there, and then you were gone, and then you were back here?"

"I'm afraid that's a secret," the Yondaime said with a chuckle.

"Please tell me?" Naruto begged, giving the puppy-dog eyes he'd worked so hard to perfect. "I won't tell anyone, I promise."

Naruto could see the effectiveness of the technique as his target looked to have almost been struck a blow. _Come on_, he urged the man on silently, _it's not as if any kid would understand whatever complicated mechanics are involved. Or remember it well enough to repeat it back to someone. _

"I'm sorry," he finally said, after recovering from the psychological assault. "That jutsu is so secret I can't even tell the other ninja in my village."

Naruto didn't hardly even have to act to give a horribly crushed expression. He would have to be a goody two-shoes about this, wouldn't he?

"If you're that interested, maybe there is something you can do," the Yondaime told Naruto, causing him to perk up immediately in interest. "You look to be about old enough to join the next class at the academy. If you train hard, you could learn all sorts of jutsu. Whatever you decide, I can set you up with a nice place to stay while I look for your brother."

Actually going through their training to become a ninja? That was an interesting notion that held some possibilities. Anyway, Naruto needed to play along for now if he was going to report back to the real him. So he soon found himself being picked up and carried back to Konoha, an assault to his pride he did his best to ignore.

* * *

Naruto really should have planned out a meeting spot, as locating his clone proved more difficult than he'd anticipated. After searching Konoha for a couple of hours, he finally found his target hiding in the shadows of an alleyway.

"About time you got here," his clone called out, stepping into the light.

Getting a better look at his creation now, it almost wasn't recognizable compared to when he last saw it. All the dirt and grime from before was gone and the hair had been cleaned and brushed. Then there was the most important change, the tattered clothes had been replaced with a rather cute pair of pink pajamas. Naruto couldn't help but snicker at that, a fact which earned him a glare.

"The workers at the orphanage just wouldn't stop fussing over me," his clone explained. "I was afraid they'd never go to sleep so I could sneak out."

"So, what did we get from him?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"Nothing," came the extremely disappointing reply. "Although he did give me an interesting idea for our next move."

"Oh?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Have a clone go through their ninja training. They'll actively teach us what they know rather than trying to guard it."

"That is a good idea," Naruto agreed. "You should get right on that."

"Not a chance," his clone shot back. "We'll create another clone. A _male_ clone to go through the training."

"Don't be silly," Naruto insisted, actually amused by this whole conversation. "You don't think they'll find it suspicious if you disappear only to have another random kid wander into town a few weeks later?"

"So we'll wait a couple of years," his clone countered stubbornly. "That's no big deal for us."

"True, that would certainly help," Naruto conceded. "Still, why wait? Especially when there's no guarantee our next attempt would go so smoothly. You're already in, and you've made a good impression on the Hokage too. That can only help."

"I hardly think getting saved by the village leader is really going to make much of a difference with the training."

"You know I'm right," Naruto said smugly. "You're just being stubborn because you don't want to do it."

"Well, you know how humiliating this is and yet you're enjoying yourself immensely," the clone fired back bitterly.

"You know me so well," Naruto japed cheerfully.

"Fine," the clone finally agreed with a sigh. "It's only for a decade or two anyway. It can't be as bad as cleaning up the Biju's chakra was, and we put up with that for over a century."

"I'm thrilled to hear that," Naruto beamed, "because it would be a shame to deny Konoha such a cute little kunoichi."

"I said I'll do it," the clone said as threateningly as the body of a five-year-old girl could manage, "but if you keep cracking jokes like that, I won't be the only one of us missing an important piece of anatomy."

"Don't worry," Naruto said dismissively. "I'll be gone for a while anyway. I need to get this body back in shape. I also want to play around with the few useful scrolls I found."

"Good," the clone said in genuine relief. "Now get out of here. I need to get back before anyone notices I'm missing."

Naruto obeyed, dashing off and making his way out of the village. He almost regretted that he wouldn't be staying around. Who knew that picking on yourself could be so much fun?

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

I said this chapter would cover less than a decade and here it turned out to be less than a month. Now I just need to go back and fill in the previous 500 years with a similar pacing. That's only 50 million words or so. No problem, right?

Anyway, the big mystery of the chapter is why Minato looks just like Naruto's father. I know I'm normally not one to go into too much detail with character descriptions, but in the case of Naruto's father, it was actually deliberate.

I'm sure there will be all sorts of wild theories about this, but rest assured, I'm only doing it to drive everyone crazy when I reveal that it was all just a coincidence with no real meaning. And for those who don't believe me, I wouldn't lie to you in the author's notes now would I?

Hopefully I'm keeping people on their toes a bit as to where the plot is going. That's the way I like it.


	5. Academy Life

**Foreword: **This is a rather long chapter that's focuses heavily on the Naruko clone. That said, I'd like to assure everyone this I am not turning this into a Naruko story. Not even a Naruto secretly disguised as Naruko story. You'll have to read on to find out more than that.

* * *

One of the hardest parts of this scam was for _her _to remember that _she _was _Naruko_ not Naruto. She worked hard to even refer to herself that way in her own thoughts. Naruko was just thankful she'd picked a name so close to her real one. That made it much fairly easy to answer to her new name when called. Still, one slip when she was speaking and it could lead to some questions she preferred not be asked.

The whole Naruko thing was a constant struggle for a while, but the worst part, hands down, was just living in the orphanage. She could deal with the fact that it was crowded with other kids. She could even play games with them, as she'd done that plenty of times as an adult. No the part that really got to her was that the staff at the orphanage treated her like … well … a five-year-old girl.

Trying to keep a scowl off her face whenever the adults talked down to her was a sizable trial. It made the months until the new year at the academy pass very, very slowly. Finally, however, the day did come, and Naruko was looking forward to spending much of her time out of the orphanage.

She was so excited that she found herself one the first people to the building, waiting as the other students filed in. The highlight of that particular process was when a young Hyuga girl with dark blue hair walked in. Her features were similar enough to Hanabi's that she could have been her sister, but Naruko supposed that's what centuries of inbreeding did.

Naruko had barely spared her the time to notice that much before looking away in disgust. She cursed her luck for getting stuck in a class with a Hyuga, but supposed it wasn't too unlikely considering there were a decent number of them living in the village.

Naruko passed the remainder of the time waiting for class to start by looking at clan symbols of the students walking in. She then tried to figure out how many of them had their clan homes broken into by her. It turned out to to be almost half the class if her math was right. Quite a few of the prominent clans were represented in the assembled children.

Finally, the teacher called out for the kids to settle down. He introduced himself as Umino Iruka and began to drone on about what they'd be doing on their path to becoming a ninja. The lesson was designed for young children and Naruko soon grew bored, only half listening.

That seemed to become the norm in the weeks to come. Some of the history lessons were mildly interesting, and their rules gave interesting insight into the ninja of Konoha. Everything else, on the other hand, was taught on such a basic level as to be virtually useless.

As far as interactions with the other students went, Naruko tried to be friendly enough to keep her cover, but her heart wasn't in it. The other students seemed to pick up on this and soon left her be, making Naruko something of a loner.

That suited her just fine, but it didn't change how monotonous things were. As far as grades went, she deliberately kept herself somewhat in the middle of the class. She could have easily made herself out to be a prodigy, but the less scrutiny she got, the better.

Between the boredom of school and the frustration of the orphanage, Naruko prayed the years would pass by as quickly as possible. Sadly that prayer didn't seem to be answered.

* * *

Sasuke woke up to several voices talking loudly from outside his bedroom door. Pretending to still be asleep, he listened in on their conversation. Some of the voices sounded familiar, and he was pretty certain they belonged to other Uchiha, but he wasn't quite sure who they were.

"Face it, it's over. It was a fools errand to start with and now what small hope we had is gone. They'll be watching us even more closely after tonight."

"All the more reason to strike now, while we can still catch them by surprise."

"We won't catch them by surprise. This has Danzo's hand all over it."

"If it were Danzo's work, we'd have a lot more than one corpse."

"That would be because the Yondaime keeps him on a short leash."

Sasuke was beginning to realize just how serious this argument was. Someone had died and they were discussing an attack of some sort? Even the Yondaime was involved? Just what was going on?

"Speaking of the Hokage, how are we supposed to deal with both the Yondaime and the Sandaime? Not to even mention all their allies. Even assuming we can still catch them unaware, it was a long shot before, with Fugaku dead and Itachi a traitor we don't stand a chance."

Sasuke reacted immediately to those words, jumping out of the futon and running to throw upon his bedroom door.

"Liar!" he shouted angrily. "Itachi would never betray us!"

Finally having a look at who had been speaking he confirmed they were men from the Uchiha Clan. He also recalled that they had been meeting with his father a lot lately. The were joined by his mother, who was sitting nearby, eyes still wet with tears.

"He killed your father and ran off," the oldest member of the group exclaimed. "If that doesn't make him a traitor than what does?"

"Quiet!" his mother snapped sharply. "I won't have you upsetting Sasuke any further. Get out and have your meeting somewhere else."

Reluctantly, they did as she'd ordered leaving the two of them alone.

"They were lying, right?" Sasuke asked her hopefully. "It can't be true. Tell me what really happened."

His mother just looked at him sadly before wrapping him in a hug. But Sasuke found no comfort from that embrace.

* * *

Naruko saw that Sasuke hadn't shown up today either, the poor kid. She'd thought her family had been dysfunctional, but even when things were at their worst, Nanami had never tried to kill her. It was a tough thing for any kid to go through, but at least his mother was there for him to help him through it.

When Sasuke finally did return, he was more withdrawn. He became considerably less sociable, instead focusing more of his efforts on his studies. Sasuke easily pulled away from the rest of the class as far as grades were concerned.

For her part, Naruko continued her charade of being an average student, finally making it through their first year. However, when Iruka was handing Naruko her final grades he let her know that he wanted to speak to her after class. Not in a position to refuse, she agreed and shortly found herself alone with him in his office.

"I asked you here because of your grades," Iruka began sternly.

"Why?" Naruko asked curiously. "There are a lot of people with worse grades than mine. Why aren't you talking with them?"

"I already have spoken to some of them," he answered, "but in your case it's for a different reason. I've been teaching you for a year now and it's clear to me that you're a bright young girl. Whether it's taijutsu, math, or chakra theory, you can pick things up and understand them quickly. I've seen you do it any number of times. The fact that your grades are still only average tells me that you're not really trying."

Iruka was sharper than she'd given him credit for to pick up on that. Naruko should have put more effort into making her act convincing. At least he only seemed to consider her unmotivated. She could play along with that belief for now.

"So I want you to tell me why you don't work harder," Iruka continued. "I notice you don't really have any friends. Are you worried you might intimidate them if your grades were higher?"

"It's not that," Naruko answered. "I'm just not really sure I want to be ninja."

"Well, no one is going to make you if you don't want to," Iruka assured her. "Still, you should at least consider trying until you make up your mind. You may find someday that you really enjoy it, and you don't want to regret being behind in your training then, do you?"

"I still don't know," Naruko replied doing her best to sound uncertain.

"At least promise me you'll think about it during the break," Iruka requested.

"Okay," Naruko agreed. "I'll think about it."

"Good," he said breaking into a smile. "That's all I ask."

Excusing herself, Naruko left academy. Rather than going straight back to the orphanage, she went on a walk to think over where to go from there. Should she let her grades go a bit higher to appease Iruka, and if so, how much?

Naruko's walk led her to the scene of one her classmates, a girl by the name of Sakura, being taunted by three other girls about having an oversized forehead of all things. They were apparently satisfied with their work, as the three of them quickly moved off, leaving the pink-haired girl in tears. Kids could really be cruel.

Naruko's vantage point allowed her to see Ino, another of her classmates, approach Sakura and do a pretty good job of cheering the girl up. Good for her. It was nice to see that not all the kids in Konoha were such rotten brats.

Still, said brats weren't likely to let up on their taunts anytime soon. Even if Sakura learned to deal with it, they'd just move on to other targets. Naruko wanted to see if she could put a stop to that as she slipped away in the direction the three bullies had left in.

They hadn't gone far, and Naruko quickly spotted the three of them standing in a circle and laughing. One of the girls Naruko recognized from her class, but the other two were strangers. The largest of the three was probably a year older than Naruko was supposed to be.

"You really shouldn't go around bullying people," Naruko declared, getting their attention.

"I don't like your tone of voice, blondie," the oldest girl responded.

Naruko wasn't sure exactly what she'd been hoping to accomplish here. They'd hardly listen to any admonishment from her giving how young she looked. Beyond that, it felt wrong to take a more direct approach against little kids. Still, it was best they learned, and Naruko was good enough to avoid hurting them. It wouldn't really be any worse than sparring.

"Well too bad," Naruko told her, "because I don't intend to change it."

The largest girl approached menacingly and when Naruko didn't back down, tried to shove her. Instead, Naruko grabbed the arm and flipped her onto her back. Boy that brought back memories. It was more or less than same move Hanabi had used on her when they'd first met. Although Naruko had to say, she much preferred being on this side of it.

The girl from her class actually tried to throw a punch at Naruko's face, but she easily batted it aside and rewarded her with a small punch to the stomach. Just enough to knock the wind out of her. She fell to her knees and actually started crying herself. Naruko turned to face the third girl, but she was already turning to run away. The one she'd flipped had picked herself up and was hurrying off in the other direction.

"You should go too," she said more kindly to the crying girl next to her. "But tell your friends I'd better not catch them picking on anyone ever again."

She did as she was told and sped off, leaving Naruko alone. Or so she thought anyway.

"Those were some nice moves," Ino called out appreciatively from behind her.

Naruko was surprised to see both Ino and Sakura watching from a short distance away. It was a real pain having to hide how skilled she was. Sensing someone coming required a certain amount of order to one's chakra. An order that went well beyond the amount of control she was supposed to have as Naruko.

Since she didn't want anyone getting suspicious about how she'd got so good at manipulating chakra, she was forced to keep hers a disorganized mess. This meant living without her sixth sense for now. That didn't change the fact that it was embarrassing to have a couple of seven-year-old girls sneak up on you.

"Yeah, well, I just didn't like them much," Naruko answered.

"Don't be so modest," Ino insisted. "You wanted to help out Sakura-chan too, didn't you."

"Thank you for doing that," Sakura added. "You didn't have fight them for my sake."

"Don't worry about it," Naruko told them. "It really isn't that big a deal."

"Nonsense," Ino argued. "Why don't you both come over to my house? I'm sure my parents would be happy to meet my two new friends."

"Thank you for the offer," Naruko answered politely, "but I'll have to pass." Turning to walk away, she was stopped when Ino followed after her and grabbed her arm.

"Don't be like that," Ino insisted. "I've seen that you're always by yourself in class. You'll have a much better time if you make a few friends. Now come with us. I won't take no for an answer."

Naruko was beginning to wonder just how many people were taking note of her every action in class. Ino was second person today to bring up how she didn't have friends. Naruko supposed it did look a little odd from the outside. So it might be wise to play along, if only to avoid another lecture from Iruka in the future. Really, how bad could it be?

* * *

For once, Naruko's cautious optimism wasn't a portent of impending disaster. Ino and Sakura were both nice enough to be around. Sure it wouldn't usually top his list of things to do, but hanging out with them was a nice break from the orphanage.

Also, when they returned to the academy Naruko found sitting by them and sneaking chatter when they could get away with it to be better than listening to Iruka drone on endlessly. On the topic of school, Naruko had decided to slowly raise her grades. Hopefully it would be enough to satisfy Iruka without drawing too much attention.

As the weeks passed, however, Naruko was beginning to wonder if the friendship she'd formed would last. Ino seemed determined enough to make it work, but Naruko could tell Sakura wasn't entirely comfortable being around her. It was the same thing that made her a loner in the first place. She just really didn't fit in with kids their age and wasn't much fun to be around.

So it was a bit of a surprise when Sakura approached Naruko at their usual meeting place in the park one Sunday morning and struck up a conversation. Ino wasn't there yet, and usually when she was the last to arrive the two of them would just sit in awkward silence until she did.

"Hey, Naruko," Sakura began cheerfully. "I wanted to tell you, but there's someone I like now."

"Go on," Naruko said dryly. "Don't hold me in suspense all day."

"It's Sasuke-kun," she supplied, not deterred by Naruko's lack of interest.

"Not you too," Naruko told her with a groan.

"Too?" Sakura asked in confusion. "Don't tell me _you _like Sasuke?" The question sent Naruko into a fit of a coughing.

"No!" she finally said when she'd recovered. "Ino likes him, not me. She was going on and on about him to me the other day."

"She really likes him?" Sakura asked, looking depressed by the news.

"I'm afraid so," Naruko answered.

Sakura fell into a bit of introspection at that, but it wasn't long before her expression firmed up.

"I guess that makes us rivals," she announced.

"I guess so," Naruko repeated, still not very interested "I can hardly wait to hear the two of you comparing notes and making plans to win his heart."

"No," Sakura said simply. "Ino and I are rivals now, we can't be friends anymore."

"That's stupid," Naruko told her honestly, getting a nasty look from Sakura.

"I knew I shouldn't have talked to you about this," Sakura snapped.

"No, you should have," Naruko fired back. "Because you need to hear how stupid it is. You're going to give up your friendship over some guy you have a crush on?"

"It's not just about Sasuke," Sakura insisted. "Ino is my best friend, but I need to prove that I can stand on my own without relying on her. Not that you'd understand. You're strong enough that you just beat up the people who were picking on me."

"I still don't see it," Naruko argued. "If you want to toughen up, then toughen up. You don't need to throw away your friendship with Ino just to make a point. You said she was your best friend. Maybe it's just me, but I thought that meant something. It was my belief that a friend like that was something to treasure. Do you really think you'll be happier on your own again?"

Sakura was taken aback by her words, but seemed to be considering them.

"You're right," she finally said. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"You obviously weren't," Naruko quipped, but Sakura didn't seem at all upset this time.

"You know, I was always a bit scared of you," Sakura admitted before breaking into a broad smile. "but you really are a good person underneath, aren't you?"

"Just don't go telling everyone," Naruko replied, smiling herself.

* * *

After that day, Sakura became just as friendly to Naruko as Ino was. She even said that she'd started to find Naruko's gruff nature endearing. Well, the word she'd actually used was cute, but for the sake of their friendship, Naruko was doing her best to pretend she hadn't said that.

The improved friendship wasn't always a good thing, however. Mostly she was referring to when Ino and Sakura double teamed her and both insisted they were going to do something about her hair. Naruko had always just left it straight and didn't even take particularly good care of it.

That wasn't good enough for the two girls, as they practically tied her down over her protests and started trying different styles. Eventually they settled on twin ponytails, insisting the style looked perfect on her.

"You know I'll just let it down again the minute you leave, right?" Naruko asked them, appalled by the overly feminine style.

"Then we'll just put it back this way the next time we see you," Ino countered.

"I'll just cut my hair short," she threatened. "It's a pain to deal with anyway."

"You won't get more than a trim if you know what's good for you," Ino told her. "Unless you want me to make your life miserable, not only will you leave it like this, you're going to start taking better care of your hair. That means using the right shampoo _and _conditioner as well as brushing your hair properly every day."

"It's not worth fighting, Naruko," Sakura added. "Ino is too stubborn to give up, and I've got her back on this one. Besides, it really does look good on you."

"Fine," Naruko relented. "I'll keep the hairstyle and I'll even brush it, but I get to use my own shampoo and no conditioner."

Ino only glared at her despite her concession.

"Alright already, just show me what you want me to use," Naruko told her. "You don't cut me any slack, do you?"

"I knew you'd see things my way," Ino said with smile.

* * *

As far as academics went, Naruko's plan had kept Iruka off her back. That said, she found that rising through the class rankings drew a bit more attention than she'd wanted. Mostly because as she neared the higher ends of the class, students weren't too happy about being passed. Especially by some nobody who didn't even have a clan.

Naruko was actually amused enough by the whole thing that she brought her grades up further than she'd originally planned. By early in their third year, Naruko had moved all the way up to the second spot. She was still well behind Sasuke, but the teachers were already praising him as a genius, and she didn't want that kind of attention.

Naruko's plan was simply to sit back and coast at number two until graduation. That plan did hit a bit of a snag when Sasuke approached her shortly after she claimed the second spot. Sasuke had largely recovered from the murder of his father, although he remained much more driven since then. Still, he wasn't terribly social, and had never started up a conversation with her before.

"Congratulations on climbing so far up the class ranks," he told her. "I hope you'll keep up the hard work. It would be nice if someone was at least a slight challenge in a spar."

The words were polite enough, but somehow, the arrogance behind them rubbed Naruko the wrong way. "I'll try," she said gritting her teeth and trying to be polite in return. "If I work hard, maybe I'll even give you a run for the top spot some day."

Sasuke snorted in reply to that, showing just how likely he thought that would be. He didn't go so far as to actually question her claim, but the damage had already been done. Naruko forgot all thoughts of coasting at number two, instead resuming her slow, methodical climb in grades. Before the end of the third year, she'd caught up to Sasuke. And then she passed him.

From that point on, Naruko played a bit of a game with Sasuke in where she would let him pass her and leapfrog back in front of him shortly thereafter. She supposed she was actually doing him a favor, considering he always pushed himself all the harder to regain the top spot. Still, she had to admit that she mostly did it just for the look on his face whenever he dropped to number two again.

This little game was another way to distract from how boring the curriculum was. As far as ninjutsu went, they were only scheduled to learn three during their entire time at the academy and one he already knew when he'd started.

Even worse were the special kunoichi classes on topics such as flower arrangement. Yes, she needed all the distraction she could get from those. Thankfully, Sasuke got really into the little rivalry Naruko had constructed.

Every time they switched positions, she knew she would soon be getting a visit from Sasuke to either gloat or vow she wouldn't hold the top spot for long depending on which way it had gone. Considering that she was the only girl Sasuke would give the time of day to, despite most of them being interested in him, this soon became a topic of conversation with Ino and Sakura.

"It's not fair," Sakura complained. "You don't even like Sasuke and somehow you can get him to talk to you."

"I don't know if there's anything to be jealous of," Naruko told her. "Sasuke doesn't like me at all in either sense of the word. In fact, I'm fairly certain he hates my guts."

"That's just the way boys are," Ino said dismissively. "He's just very competitive. That doesn't mean he dislikes you."

Naruko bristled at being lectured by her about what boys were like, but let the matter slide.

"I think Sasuke talks to Naruko because he respects her as a ninja," Sakura suggested.

"I was thinking the same thing," Ino agreed. "If we worked a little harder, Sasuke might notice that and open up to us a bit more."

"Not that taking your studies more seriously isn't a good thing," Naruko interjected, "but part of it might also be because I don't fawn all over him. You might give that a try too while you're at it."

The twin glares he received made it clear just how they felt about that idea.

"Yeah, how silly of me," Naruko said sarcastically. "It couldn't possibly be that."

The girls made good on their plan to increase their training, often getting help from Naruko as well outside of class. Both of them were on the high end of the rankings even before this new push, so by early on in their fifth year they were beginning to pull ahead of the rest of the pack as they fought each other for third.

Sasuke and Naruko had a huge lead by then, and that wasn't likely to change, but Naruko was proud of the effort they were making. They even continued despite their hard work not having any noticeable effect toward getting Sasuke to notice them. Not that they'd given up hope that it might work if they just kept at it. Still they might make decent kunoichi yet.

* * *

It was about halfway through their fifth year, and Naruko was having trouble dealing with a guilty conscience. Glancing over her shoulder, she again caught Hinata looking at their little group. Although she looked away in embarrassment as soon as she realized she'd been caught staring.

For over four years Naruko had been doing her best to ignore the girl, wanting nothing to do with the Hyuga Clan. Nevertheless, over time it was getting harder and harder for her to do. Hinata just looked so miserable back there. As far as Naruko could tell, she was terminally shy and hadn't made any friends during their time at the academy.

She'd just sit in the back of the class looking wistfully at groups of friends having a good time. She was just so unlike the arrogant, heartless Hyuga that Naruko so despised, that was becoming difficult to even think of her as one, despite her eyes. Finally, Naruko decided she could stand it no more. As soon as Iruka called a break for lunch, she was bounding up the stairs toward the back of the room where Hinata sat.

"You know, you'll have better luck making friends if you talk to people instead of just staring at them," Naruko quipped.

This probably wasn't the best approach to take as Hinata completely missed the intended humor instead acting as if she'd just been reprimanded.

"I'm sorry," she said weakly. "I didn't meant to stare."

"What our socially inept friend is trying to say is, would you like to join us for lunch?" Ino interjected from where she and Sakura had followed Naruko up.

"I wouldn't want bother you," Hinata answered, looking down at her feet instead of making eye contact.

"It's no bother," Sakura assured her. "We'd be happy to have more company. No doubt you'll be more pleasant to be around than Naruko here."

"I'm sure that's not true," Hinata said meekly.

"Come on, show a little bit of backbone," Naruko urged her. "We're being friendly here and inviting you to eat with us. So are you going to accept, or are you going to turn us down because you'd rather eat by yourself?"

There, that should trap her. Now it would seem more rude to decline than to accept. Still, he was surprised by how quickly she responded.

"No, I'll go," Hinata said as strongly as Naruko had ever heard her speak. "That is, if you're sure you want me to."

Naruko realized by how hopeful that last bit sounded that she must have been wishing for something like this to happen for a long time. All Naruko's excuses that part of her solitude might have simply been because she felt the other students were beneath her fled. This was a girl who genuinely wanted a friend.

Her lack of confidence really was something else though. Even after they'd eaten together, it had taken them a few days to convince Hinata that she was always welcome to sit with them during class and join them for lunch. Once they'd done that, however, it was clear how much happier the young Hyuga was.

It was like pulling teeth trying to get her to talk about herself, but over time, the three of them were finally able to get a picture of why she was the way she way. She was the only child of the head of the Hyuga Clan, and a great disappointment to him, as he would frequently make clear. Nothing she did was good enough for a Hyuga, much less the clan's heir.

Naruko felt like a real heel for ignoring Hinata for so long. She could have really used a friend much earlier in life. There's no telling how deep the trauma went by now, or how much could have been prevented if she'd acted sooner. Hinata was another life added to the long list the Hyuga Clan had worked to ruin, and Naruko had done nothing to stop it.

She just wished she weren't undercover, as she'd love to have a word with Hinata's father.

* * *

The end of her fifth year brought with it one change that Naruko had long been looking forward to. They were finally letting her move out of the orphanage and into her own place. Naruko thought eleven was a bit young for someone to be living on their own, but he could understand where they were coming from.

She was only a year from becoming a full-fledged ninja, so they'd want her to learn to be self reliant soon. Of course there was also the fact that the orphanages were overcrowded and understaffed. Releasing one of the older kids who was actually asking to live on her own would let them devote more care to the younger ones.

Despite finally living on her own again, her final year at the academy was in some ways her worst. This was largely because her body was developing as all girls' did eventually, a truly mortifying experience for Naruko. This was only made worse by the fact that even some of the guys were become interested in the other sex.

The problem was made clearest by one Inuzuka Kiba. He wasn't the first guy to approach Naruko asking about a date, but he was certainly the most memorable. It probably wasn't even entirely his idea, given the way the two other guys he'd been hanging out with were laughing and watching closely as he approached the group of four girls as lunch was ending. Still, whether it was a dare, or a legitimate attempt to get a date didn't really matter. Only what happened when he arrived.

"Any of you four lovely young ladies looking for a date?" Kiba asked them without so much as a hello.

"Not with you," Ino quickly answered.

"Yeah," Sakura agreed. "The only person we'd go out with is Sasuke-kun."

"Well, I knew you two were like that," Kiba admitted, undaunted by their quick refusal, "but I'm hoping your two friends might have better taste. What do you say, Hinata?"

"I … I don't think I'm ready for something like that," Hinata told him, blushing about as deeply as she'd ever seen a person blush.

"The shy type, huh?" Kiba responded. "I'm okay with that. I may see if I can't convince you, but first I want to check if Naru-chan here is interested."

Something about the whole situation just had Naruko at her limit. She was sick enough of guys asking her out, and Kiba was easily the worst of the lot. The way he was just casually switching from one girl to the next right in front of them as if he didn't even care who he went out with for starters.

But the whole 'Naru-chan' thing was what finally sent her over the top. She just didn't want to deal with Kiba or any other would be suitor. So she didn't even give it much thought and said the first thing she could come up with to get rid of him.

"I don't like guys," she said loudly enough that everyone sitting anywhere close by could hear. She was treated to a host of shocked looks, with everyone nearby stopping what they were doing as they turned to face her.

"What? You mean seriously?" Kiba asked, being the first to find his tongue.

"Yes, seriously," Naruko told him firmly.

"I don't actually know how to respond to that," Kiba announced wide eyed. "So I'm just going to go back over there."

Kiba made a hasty retreat, but the rest of classroom erupted into a multitude of conversations on the latest piece of gossip. Debates were already breaking out over whether she was telling the truth or not, but Iruka cut it off almost as soon as it had started.

"Everyone quiet down!" he yelled out angrily. "There will be no further discussion on this topic. We're starting class."

"But we still have five minutes left of lunch," one student complained.

"I said we're starting class," Iruka said through a clenched jaw as he stared down the offending student. No one else protested as he began their next lesson.

* * *

"So, do you think Naruko was telling the truth?" Ino asked her two friends before class the day after her big claim.

Naruko had run out the moment class ended without saying a word and now seemed to be waiting till the last minute to arrive today. Ino could understand why she wanted to avoid the rest of their classmates, but she still wanted to grill the girl herself.

"Well, I haven't ever seen her show an interest in any boys, even Sasuke," Sakura mused. "And it is true that she's never been very into anything feminine."

"You're right about that," Ino agreed. "Remember how hard we had to fight her to get her to do anything with her hair? And we still haven't made much progress on her wardrobe."

Really, sometimes Ino was convinced Naruko would have rather been born a boy. It was kind of unfair that someone who cared so little for their appearance had so much natural looks. Not that Ino was any worse off on that front, she quickly reminded herself, even if she wasn't quite as early a bloomer as her friend.

"We are only eleven," Hinata pointed out. "Maybe she's just not interested in guys yet. She didn't say she liked girls."

"Well, she hasn't really shown any interest in girls either," Sakura admitted. "Honestly, I think she may just be so devoted to being a ninja that she's suppressing her feelings. Kind of like Sasuke-kun."

That did sound like Naruko. And Sakura was right, she hadn't shown any interest in girls despite being around Ino herself most every day. It was probably just something she said to get Kiba to leave her alone.

"You do realize I'm standing right here, don't you?" Naruko asked, sounding annoyed at their conversation.

Hinata was clearly ashamed to have been caught, and even Sakura looked a little guilty. Ino on the other hand was always happy for a chance to tease their slightly brutish friend.

"So, tell us the truth, what exactly are you interested in?" Ino asked her shamelessly.

"Why don't you figure it out," Naruko told her. "You seem to be enjoying doing that already."

Even Hinata could tell by now that there was no real anger in that reply though. Just another one of the caustic remarks that made Naruko who she was. They all relaxed a bit to see that was the case. Whatever the truth of her claim, it didn't change the fact that they were friends.

* * *

The furor around Naruko's pronouncement had finally died down when it was clear she wasn't going to say anything further on the subject. She was also happy to see that it really had proven effective in its original intent. For most of the remainder of the year, she didn't have a single request for a date. Kiba never completely stopped pestering her about if she'd been telling the truth, but she found that preferable to the alternative.

Now, they were finally coming upon their first chance to pass the graduation exam and Naruko was trying to decide exactly how she wanted it to go. Should she let Sasuke win? Should she score something he could beat but only if he did really well and leave it up to him? Or should she score so high that he wouldn't have a hope of beating her.

She really didn't have to think it over for long. First she'd figure out how good Sasuke would do if he'd really rolled out the stops training for this and then had everything go his way the entire exam. Then she'd do slightly better than that.

No one had come beating down her door demanding to know how she could be so skilled yet, so getting rookie of the year shouldn't change that. Not to mention how great it would be to see his face when he realized that not only had he lost, but that he couldn't even blame it on a bad day. Knowing that she'd done better than he could have managed at his best. That would be sweet.

While nearly everyone else was nervous, Naruko was already looking forward to the big day and was enjoying herself right up till when she was called in to do the final practical portion of the exam. Entering Iruka's office, she was asked to show off her Bunshin skill.

Naruko should have just pointed to herself, broken her cover, and explained her modified version of the Bunshin just to see his reaction. It would have almost been worth it. Instead she simply went through the hand seals and summoned twenty-three copies of herself that all smiled and waved at Iruka independently.

"Very impressive," Iruka complimented her. "I don't think this will come as any surprise to you, but you pass."

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei," she told him cheerfully.

"Before you go, I'd just like to say how glad I am you took my advice," Iruka told her. "I knew you had the potential to be a great ninja if you put your mind to it, but even I'm surprised with just how well you did. I know how hard it can be to do so well without any family to give extra training outside the academy, but you overcame all of that."

Iruka really was a nice guy. Done for the day, Naruko went straight home, returning early the next morning to see the posted results. Immediately going to the top of the list Naruko was shocked to see it wasn't her name that sat there, but Sasuke's. She'd slightly underestimated him, as he'd beaten her by a hair with a combined rating of 378.2 to Naruko's 378.1.

Forcing herself to look at the rest of the chart, she saw that Sakura had edged out Ino 261.5 to 259.7. Ino had a slight lead in every category save one, but it wasn't enough to overcome Sakura's domination on the written exam. Even Hinata had managed a seventh place finish, not that it would be nearly good enough for her father. It was then that she noticed Sasuke hovering off to the side with a smirk.

"It was a good try," he said in about a friendly a manner as he ever had. "I'll admit you made me work for rookie of the year."

Naruko was seething all over again. The fact that he would choose to be a good sport about it now after all his taunts and boasting before infuriated her, and she was sure he'd planned it that way. If only she had chosen to make one more clone, or moved just a hair faster during the Taijutsu portion she could have put the arrogant Uchiha in his place.

"Now now," Sakura interjected, joining into the conversation in an attempt to calm Naruko. "We're the top three in our class, we should all be happy for each other."

Her words did little to cool Naruko's temper but did serve to tick off Ino where she stood nearby muttering about the written exam counting for more than it should.

"You were a _distant _third," Sasuke reminded her, before walking off and away from the group.

The remaining month is the academy was a very dull affair. Lessons continued even for those who passed. Meanwhile, those who failed struggled to improve in time to pass on one of their remaining attempts before they'd have to repeat the year. In the end, all of them succeeded, and Konoha headbands were passed out to everyone.

Now all the talk was about the big event that would set the course of their entire career as ninja. What team they would be assigned to.

* * *

"Quite an impressive group of graduates," Sarutobi mused as Minato read of the results. "Have you decided what teams to put them on?"

"Not yet," Minato admitted. "Iruka writes that Sasuke and Naruko have quite a rivalry going and suggests we put them on the same team so they'll continue to push each other. I admit it would be interesting to see where that team could go, but they're both so far above the other students, it's a bit unbalanced to stick them together."

"Well, we generally put that top and bottom student together," Sarutobi reminded him. "That would help a little in that regard."

"Except the person with the lowest grades is Nara Shikamaru," Minato informed him. "Do you want to be the one to explain to the fathers why we didn't put their children on the same team?"

"I think we can ignore that tradition this year," Sarutobi declared, grimacing at the thought of doing just that. "Still, if I'd had a group of graduates like this when I was younger, I might have been tempted to take a second team."

"What's stopping you?" Minato asked. "You don't have many responsibilities anymore. And based on the fact you're always in here bothering me, you obviously aren't ready to give up the ninja life and enjoy a peaceful retirement."

"An interesting thought," Sarutobi replied, looking to be seriously considering it. "I was thinking of taking up a hobby to pass the time, but this sounds more entertaining than gardening or any of my other ideas."

"I was only joking," Minato admitted, "but if you're actually interested, the offer certainly stands. Whatever team you lead would benefit greatly from it."

"You know, you could always take another team yourself," Sarutobi suggested.

"Me?" Minato asked in surprise. "Don't be ridiculous. Being Hokage keeps me far too busy for that."

"I'd like to remind you that I was already Hokage when I trained my team," Sarutobi pointed out. "But I understand that it can be difficult to live up to the example set by the God of Shinobi himself."

"I'd love to make you eat those words, but I honestly don't know how you found the time for it," Minato admitted, irked a bit that he was bringing up that overblown nickname of his again.

"It's not that hard," Sarutobi told him. "You don't need to directly supervise them all the time. I'm sure Kushina would be happy to help out when you're busy."

"She probably would enjoy that," Minato agreed. "Alright, I'll do it if you will. That way I can prove to you just who the better teacher is. I'll even let you have your pick, Naruko or Sasuke?"

"I'll take Sasuke," Sarutobi quickly answered. "It would hardly be fair to deny the girl the opportunity of working with her savior now, would it?"

"Fine," Minato agreed. "Now that that's settled, let's work out the rest of the teams."

* * *

Naruko could feel the nervousness rolling off her friends in waves as Iruka began announcing the teams. Not that she was that much calmer than they were. She was thrilled to finally get on a team and maybe start seriously learning ninjutsu and the like, but the wrong team members could make that a pretty miserable experience.

"Team 7: Haruno Sakura, Aburame Shino, and Uchiha Sasuke," Iruka announced.

"Yes!" Sakura cried out happily at being put with Sasuke.

"Team 8: Naruko, Hyuga Hinata, and Inuzuka Kiba," Iruka continued, ignoring the outburst.

"Jackpot!" Kiba cried out excitedly, eliciting a groan from Naruko.

She saw Hinata wilt at her reaction and quickly ran damage control. "No, no, Hinata, I'm thrilled to be on your team," she assured the girl. "I just really didn't want to be with Kiba."

"I'm glad I'm on your team too, Naruko," Hinata replied, cheering up at her words.

"Team 10: Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Akimichi Choji," Iruka went on, causing Ino to groan this time.

"I knew it was coming," Ino admitted. "But that doesn't make it any easier. I don't suppose any of you would switch places with me?"

"Don't worry, Ino," Sakura told her. "We'll all stay friends even though we're on different teams. And I can tell you all about what it's like to work with Sasuke-kun every day."

"Yeah, thanks a lot for that," Ino said dryly.

After the teams were announced, they were lead off by their instructors one at a time. The big news in that was when the Sandaime himself came for Team 7. Naruko had to admit, she was jealous of that, and she wasn't the only one. It might have even been worth being on a team with Sasuke for that privilege. Anyway, Naruko's team leader was the last to arrive. It was already fifteen minutes after the other teams had left with no sign of whoever it was.

"Some people get all the luck," Naruko complained. "Can you imagine actually training under The Professor himself? They say he knows all the techniques within Konoha."

"You're telling me," Kiba agreed. "It's all because of Sasuke. He's getting special treatment because he's an Uchiha."

"I can assure you that didn't come into a play," a new voice added. "And I may not know as many techniques as Sarutobi, but I don't think you'll be disappointed with my credentials."

Naruko had recognized the voice immediately as the Yondaime's, and was quite pleased with the thought of him as her teacher. She probably would have still preferred the Sandaime if it came right down to it, but he was a close second.

"You're going to be our teacher, Hokage-sama?" Kiba asked excitedly. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

"Please," the man replied. "I remain your Hokage, but starting today, I'm your team leader even before that. So call me Minato-sensei. Now, if you'll meet me on the roof, I'd like to get started with some introductions."

Minato was gone in the flash, and the three of them quickly hurried to the roof, seeing their sensei already there, along with a red-haired woman.

"I'd like to introduce you to my lovely wife, Kushina," Minato announced. "Since work tends to keep me busy, she'll be helping me run the team when I'm otherwise tied up."

"I'm looking forward to working with you all," she said sweetly.

"Now, on to introductions, I want each of you to tell us a bit about yourselves," Minato ordered. "Your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future."

"I like Akamaru and my clan," Kiba announced quickly, hardly wasting a moment after Minato's order. "For things I dislike that would have to be Sasuke. For my dreams, I want to prove to everyone how awesome I am and become Hokage some day."

"It's good to dream big," Minato said approvingly. "How about you, Hinata?"

"Well … I like my friends," Hinata began hesitantly. "I don't like it when I disappoint people, and I hope to someday get strong enough to make my father proud."

"I'll do my best to train you until you reach that goal," Minato promised her. "That leaves us with you Naruko. Tell us a bit about yourself."

"I like training," Naruko said simply. "For goals, I pretty much just want to learn as many jutsu as I can for now and keep working to be a top ninja. Oh, and I don't like guys that come on to a girl that obviously isn't interested."

"You mean you don't like any guys," Kiba amended. "Naruko claims she's a lesbian, but I don't believe her."

"Kiba!" Kushina exclaimed, sounding scandalized. "That's not the sort of thing you just come out and say."

"She did, why can't I?" Kiba argued, rolling his eyes.

"Anyway," Kushina said, turning her attention back to Naruko. "You may have grown up an orphan, but a good team should feel like family. So I'd be happy if you would think of me as the mother of this little family."

"At your age?" Naruko said with a snort. She knew she shouldn't have the moment after she said it, but the thought of treating someone less than a tenth of her age as her mother was so ridiculous it just came out before she'd realized it.

"What's that about my age?" Kushina said, her voice turning to ice.

Naruko thought the truth would actually be the safest answer to that. "It's just that you're much too young to be my mother," Naruko told her.

Kushina's anger fled immediately and she was all smiles again as she ran up and engulfed Naruko in a huge.

"Well, aren't you just the sweetest thing," she said in an overly saccharine tone. "I've always wanted a daughter like you. Minato, can we keep her?"

"You'll have to discuss that with Naruko," Minato answered weakly, clearly embarrassed by his wife's antics. "Anyway, we still have an important test to take care of today, so I'd like to move on with that."

Naruko used the distraction he provided to finally free herself from the Kushina's grasp. Although Naruko was curious about this test Minato was referring to, Kiba beat her to punch.

"A test?" he asked. "What kind of a test?"

"I'll explain when we get to the test site," Minato answered. "Follow me."

All of them did, and they soon arrived a training ground. When they did, Minato pulled out a timer and set it on a log. Then he grabbed two bells out of a pouch and held them up.

"For this test, each of you will have one hour to get a bell from me," Minato announced. "Those of you who fail to do so, will be sent back to the Academy. As there are only two bells, at least one of you _will _fail."

"What?" Kiba protested. "That's not fair! I liked this team and now you're just going to break it up?"

"You should be worried more about whether you get a team at all than who's going to be on it," Minato advised him. "I'm starting the test now."

Naruko was actually quite pleased by this little turn of events. If she played her cards right, she could make sure Kiba was removed from the team. Almost any replacement would be better. Although she did wonder how they would fill in the last slot if they were doing this for every team. Unless more than half the teams had only a single person pass, it'd almost be required.

"It's okay," Kiba told them. "One more year isn't a big deal. I'll let the two of you get a bell and just pass next year."

"No, I should be the one to fail," Hinata argued. "I don't think I'm really ready to be a ninja anyway."

Kiba had put up a brave front, but Naruko could tell how quickly he perked up at Hinata's reply. He'd probably been hoping she would say that. Naruko wasn't about to let it end like that, however.

"No," she declared firmly. "Kiba, I'm not going to have you holding it over my head that I owe my passing to you. And Hinata, I'm not letting you give up so easily. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to play rock-paper-scissors."

"Rock-paper-scissors?" Kiba queried, sounding unsure he'd heard her right.

"Yeah, the loser goes without a bell but still has to help the others," Naruko explained. "Minato-sensei will certainly hold back if he wants us to have any chance of passing, but we are talking about the Hokage, we'll need to throw everything we have at him."

"If that's the way you want to do it, then fine," Kiba agreed, "But don't come crying to me if you lose."

"You really should just let me fail, Naruko," Hinata argued. "You did so well that it just wouldn't be right for you to fail."

"No, Hinata, we're doing it this way and that's final," Naruko insisted. "And the winners don't owe the loser anything, since we all had a fair chance."

"Fine," Kiba acknowledged reluctantly.

With the timer already running, they wasted no more time and started the game. As Naruko had hoped, both Hinata and Kiba telegraphed what they were going to throw. As such, Naruko was easily able to ensure each round was a draw until she got the outcome she wanted. On the fourth round, Kiba got stuck holding rock while Hinata and Naruko had paper, causing Kiba to let out a curse and Akamaru to whine pitiably.

"You're not thinking about going back on your word, are you, Kiba?" Naruko taunted him.

"Of course not!" Kiba said defensively. "I agreed to help you if I lost and I'm going to help you. Now let's go show Minato-sensei what we can do."

Naruko cracked her knuckles in anticipation, looking forward to a little exercise herself, but was brought up short when Minato walked over to the timer and stopped it.

"That won't be necessary," he said. "It was a little rough around the edges, but all of you pass."

"What?" Naruko asked in confusion. "What about the bells?"

"Yeah," Kiba agreed, somehow complaining despite the fact he'd been told he'd passed just after he'd resigned himself to failing. "I was looking forward to showing off my moves."

"Don't worry, we'll have so much training over the years to come that you'll soon be sick of it," Minato told him. "But the point of this test was to see if you could work as a team. Even putting that above your own individual goals. Although I must admit, I've never heard of anyone passing thanks to a game of rock-paper-scissors."

"I'm glad we were all able to pass," Hinata said happily. "It would have been sad to have the team broken up so soon."

"Yes, well good work today everyone," Minato announced. "I have some work to get back to, but I suggest you all celebrate tonight. We'll meet together for our first mission tomorrow at 8 AM by the academy."

Naruko was a little disappointed Kiba hadn't actually failed, but she supposed today still went well enough. Now, she could finally start picking the mind of the Yondaime and see what secrets it held.

* * *

"We should go out and celebrate all of us passing," Ino suggested, their usual group of four having met up after each had completed their final test. "I found this great new restaurant with a really hot guy running it."

"A hot guy?" Sakura asked curiously. "Are you finally giving up on Sasuke?"

"You wish," Ino said dismissively. "Besides, this guy is too old for us anyway. And just because we're after Sasuke doesn't mean we can't appreciate a good looking body."

"I'm sorry," Hinata told them. "But my father said he wanted to see me as soon as I was finished today. I can't really go celebrate."

"Would you believe my father wanted to see me too?" Naruko asked.

"Nice try orphan girl," Ino responded, "but you're not getting out of this one."

"It was worth a shot," Naruko quipped, but let herself be led along. A nice dinner didn't sound to bad.

* * *

"I'm home," Sasuke announced as he entered.

"Welcome back," his mother called out in reply. "Now let me have a look at you."

"It's just a headband," Sasuke said. "It's not like there was any doubt I would pass in the first place."

"Let your mother enjoy her moment," she admonished him gently. "Anyway, I heard about your team. It's an honor to be training under the Sandaime, but it's a shame you couldn't be put on the same team as that Naruko girl you like so much."

"Mom," he complained. "We're just rivals. Nothing more than that."

"The way you were always talking about her, I would have thought otherwise," she teased him. "I suggest you make sure that's all you feel about her though. A smart, good-looking girl like her isn't likely to stay unattached forever."

"You've obviously never had the pleasure of talking with her," Sasuke quipped. "And I'm quite certain there's nothing between us."

"If you say so," she said. "What about this Sakura who's on your team, though. Isn't she quite taken with you?"

"Obsessed would be a better word," Sasuke told her. "The thought of being with her might even be more terrifying than with Naruko. It'd be a close match though. Anyway, I'm done talking about this, I'm going to go train."

"Don't be gone for too long," she called out to him as he was walking back outside. "Dinner will be ready in less than an hour, and I'm making your favorites to celebrate."

Sasuke was almost tempted not to go back for dinner, regardless of what she was making. Why did mothers feel the need to embarrass their offspring anyway?

* * *

"I'm glad to see you passed your final test," Hinata's father told her. "You'd given me plenty of reasons to worry."

"I'm sorry," she said meekly. "But I have been improving. My grades were much better this year."

"Yes, it's good they were no longer a complete embarrassment, but seventh place is nothing to be proud of," he told her. "Especially when not everyone above you was even from a prominent clan. Sometimes I wish you'd be more like your cousin Neji."

Hinata kept her gaze downward, but didn't like the implied slight against her friends. Sakura and Naruko had both beaten her and neither were from well known clans.

"Naruko had a higher final score than Neji did," Hinata pointed out, still hardly believing she'd worked up the courage to talk back to her father. "And she's not even related to any ninja."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," her father replied. "I've seen the girl, and I have my suspicions regarding her circumstances."

Hinata was confused as to what he meant by that but didn't get a chance to ask before he continued on.

"Anyway, training under the Yondaime is a good opportunity for you," her father said. "Maybe he can get through to you where I've failed. That said, I expect you to do better than you have in the past. I don't want you embarrassing the clan in front of the Hokage."

"I'll try," she promised.

"Don't try, do it," he ordered.

Hinata was left with little choice but to say that she would, even though she had no idea what she could do to satisfy her father's demand. At least she had Naruko on her team to help her.

* * *

"Would you just shut up about the guy running the restaurant already?" Naruko pleaded. "I said I'd go, but you're making me want to change my mind."

"You know, if this whole not liking guys thing was just a ploy to get Kiba to leave you alone, you should probably drop it," Sakura suggested. "As you're well aware, he doesn't believe you anymore."

"Although, if you are telling the truth, maybe you'd prefer to spend some time alone with me instead of going to out to eat," Ino declared in a sultry tone as she leaned toward Naruko in a seductive pose.

Naruko immediately jerked back in revulsion, the thought of a twelve-year-old girl coming onto her making her more than a little uncomfortable. This caused both her friends to burst into laughter.

"No, definitely not into girls," Ino said when she'd regained control of herself. "Anyway, we're here."

Looking up Naruko realized that it really must have been a new restaurant, as she was sure the building hadn't been there just a few weeks ago. It looked like a fairly nice one though, and she was a bit worried about her spending money. Sadly, it would have been a bit suspicious to leave herself with a large sum of cash.

"So what is this guy like anyway?" Sakura asked.

"Well, I guess he looks kind of like a younger version of the Yondaime," Ino answered, causing Naruko's blood to run cold even as she stepped through the door.

She suddenly go a bad feeling about this, one the proved prophetic when she finished entering and saw a familiar blond turning to face her. What was he doing here?

"Hello, Naruko-chan," the man said. "I don't know how well you remember me, but I'm your brother, Naruto."

Yeah, Naruko was going to kill him.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Yes, Naruto is back and this time to stay. As I said in the foreword, this will not become a Naruko story. However, I do plan to have both Naruto and Naruko heavily involved in the plot. I was initially tempted to just summarize the entire contents of this chapter into a few paragraphs, possibly even including it at the end of the previous chapter.

Still, I felt the character development here was too important to brush over it so quickly, and I've never been a big fan of flashbacks when you can avoid them. I prefer to write things as close to chronologically as I can manage. So saying 'Naruko made friends with Sakura, Ino, and Hinata as well as forming a sort of a rivalry with Sasuke' doesn't have nearly the same impact as writing down how it happened.

I'm sure I'll be beset with people from both sides saying I should have summarized more or that I should have expanded it out further and wrote multiple chapters on this time frame. As always, I'm happy to hear any opinions on my handling of the story, positive or negative.

One thing I would like to note, if you ever caught me referring to Naruko using Naruto, he, him, his, etc, that was not a clever ploy on my part to show an internal mental struggle. The only one who was struggling was me. I found I was using the wrong gender about 75% of the time to start with and even by the end was still messing up about 20% of the time.

Naruto was easy enough to just do a search and make sure I found all incorrect usages, but try searching for 'he' sometime. Let's just say there's a very good chance I missed some.


	6. The Return

**Foreword: **This chapter begins before the end of the last chapter as should quickly be obvious.

* * *

After Naruto had left Konoha he'd found a spot in the woods a fair distance from the village and began a strict training regime. It had been a long time since Naruto had gone through any of the old drills he'd learned when training back in the Land of Iron, but he fell back into them easily enough.

Not to mention that clones made great sparring partners, at least once he'd learned to make them incomplete enough to dissolve into their base elements when killed. Burying corpses had gotten to be quite a nuisance before then and had a tendency to attract animals.

Still, once he had it down they were the best sparring partners he'd ever had. He could go all out against them using a real sword with no fear of the consequences. Thanks to that, it only took him about a year to get his body back in peak physical shape and a couple more to have his mastery of the sword back to where it was. He even spent some time working on the original juken, finding it almost relaxing.

Of course he also kept himself busy with those few scrolls he'd found. The hand seals were easy enough, being a clever application of the written seals he already knew. You could use your own body to mold the chakra in the desired shape, allowing you to more quickly form chakra constructs.

Of course a seal that was already written out in advance would be even quicker, but hand seals gave you more flexibility. It would be hard to keep seals prepared for every contingency, let alone keep them all straight so you could find the right one quickly if you tried to do that.

The hand seals weren't even strictly needed. They made it easier to shape your chakra correctly, but with enough practice and control, one could skip them completely, forcing your chakra into the right flows through force of will. This wasn't a simple task, and became exponentially harder as the construct grew more complex, but it could be done.

This explained why the guy who had taught him the bunshin technique had been so surprised he'd learned it as quickly as he did. He'd been teaching Naruto without showing him the seals. It was probably an attempt to put him in his place as petty revenge for being shown up in his own temple. Well, that hadn't exactly worked out for him.

The genjutsu practice was considerably less productive, as he'd never really dealt with anything like it before. He understood the basic concepts of using chakra to confuse the senses well enough. He had some limited success causing visual and auditory hallucinations in his clones and even worked out some counters to those.

The problem was, he had no idea how to influence them the way he wanted to. He was fumbling around in the dark in that matter, pretty much just causing strange sounds and flashes of colored light. The scroll was no help in going beyond that. With years of experimentation, Naruto probably could have begun to work it out for himself, but considering how many people were already experts, he'd rather take a more direct approach.

Only about four years had passed since he'd left Konoha, and Naruto figured his clone wouldn't have made much progress yet. So he got to thinking of what to do in the meantime when it occurred to him that he shouldn't be limiting that particular ploy to Konoha. He could have a clone in every hidden village if things went well.

Unfortunately, things did not go well. Suna and Kumo took in his phony orphans, but refused to admit outsiders into their schools. Iwa hadn't even let his clone into the village, just gave him a bit of food and sent him on his way. Of course all those greetings were warm compared to Kiri. His made up orphan was actually killed outright to "put him out of his misery."

It seemed none of the other villages were as open with strangers as Konoha. Naruto has briefly considered a baby in a basket approach, as they could hardly suspect an infant of being a spy. Still, even he wouldn't put a clone through that.

So Naruto had reluctantly given up on infiltrating any of the others, and started up his evening raids again instead, for all the use it did him. He had even less luck finding anything that wasn't encoded than he'd had in Konoha. At least nothing related to jutsu. He did find one document he could read that was quite interesting indeed. It was an order waiting to be signed by the Tsuchikage that would induct a defector from Kiri into their ranks.

Naruto thought it was interesting that they would turn away children that might have been working for another village, but let in an adult that they were certain had been in the past. The man could easily have been an agent only pretending to defect.

He didn't have to think it over for long before he figured out why though. The adults had what the hidden villages treasured almost more than anything. Knowledge. Knowledge of enemy jutsu, strategies, forces, weaknesses, and so much more. In short, they were worth the risk.

This brought up new possibilities for Naruto, but possibilities with their own problems. Naruto didn't have a background in any of the villages, nor could he even pass as a trained ninja. His lacking in that area was the reason he wanted training in the first place. Still, there were plenty of things he knew that he was sure would be of interest to any hidden village. He could play up the angle of just being a priest in training who decided he wanted a bit of excitement in his life.

It might be a bit of a long shot without Naruto having any proof of his background. Although, if tried Konoha, he had a bit of a leg in the door already. Assuming his clone hadn't blown its cover, it could work out very nicely. The story he'd come up with claimed Naruko had a big brother. Well, Naruto could be that big brother.

They seemed the most accepting of the hidden villages to begin with. Also, now that he thought about it, a couple of decades ago he'd revisited a temple he'd once trained in and found it abandoned. It wouldn't take much work to spruce it up to look like he'd been living there.

In addition, they'd probably be more inclined to teach advanced techniques to an adult who was already skilled enough in chakra to use them, than to a child just starting off as a ninja. At the very least, it'd be a second avenue of approach. Naruto was beginning to learn just how much these ninja liked secrets. Even within a village, techniques were not shared freely among everyone, so having two people training in the same village wouldn't be at all redundant.

He was really starting to like the plan, and sure enough, the old temple was still abandoned when he arrived there. Naruto fixed the place up a bit, got it somewhat presentable, tried to add a few signs of recent habitation and then set off back to Konoha.

He'd been going over exactly how to approach this while he was working on the temple. He figured it would probably be less suspicious if he weren't so eager to join up with them at the start. Naruto could just settle down in the city acting like he simply wanted to reunite with his sister.

He'd get some other job, maybe as a blacksmith. Ninja certainly needed weapons. Although now that he thought of it, that wasn't a profession many priests would learn. Maybe he could work as a cook. Even better, he could start up his own restaurant.

Then Naruto could show off a few of his skills in the field of chakra usage and start dropping hints that he'd be happy to train a few of their ninja in what he knew. He'd play that angle for a while and then start expressing interest in some of their techniques. By then he could only hope he'd have built up their trust enough that they might oblige him.

With most of the details worked out, Naruto snuck back into Konoha. His nighttime search took him a few hours before his senses picked up his clone. Not detecting anyone else in the room, he climbed through the window of the small apartment, finding it asleep.

Naruto almost woke it to explain his plan, but a thought crossed his mind that stopped him. Wouldn't it just drive the clone crazy if he set up his restaurant _before _he let it know he was back? The look on its face when it realized he'd been operating right under its nose would make it worth holding off this conversation for a while.

So he went back out the window, left Konoha, and waited till morning. Upon arriving, he went in the proper way, through the gate. There he filled out immigration paperwork and described his plan to start a business. It took a number of hours, but he was finally waved through.

Naruto spent most of the day looking for a place to set up shop. During his quest, he picked up a bit of news, learning that it was only a couple of week until his clone's class would graduate. He did finally locate a plot of land for sale in a promising location. It had a building that appeared to have been a store at one point but had seen better days. Pleased with the result, he quickly paid in full and closed the deal.

Naruto would have loved to tear it down and build up the restaurant himself, but the official at the gate had gone on so much about zoning regulations and other red tape that Naruto felt it best to hire some professionals. That and he wouldn't know where to start with electricity or plumbing. Naruto may not feel they were needed, but they seemed to be pretty much expected in any business these days.

It did leave Naruto worried that he wouldn't be able to finish it in time for his plan, as he'd already worked out how he wanted to finally reveal himself. That problem turned out to be solved easily enough by waving around a bit of cash. He probably ended up paying twice what it should have cost him to get the place built, but it was completely constructed with days to spare. They workers even helped Naruto get the necessary permits to open for business.

Since they completed work two days before the graduation ceremony and Naruto had nothing better to do, he did just that. Running the business was easy enough, especially since he didn't get much customers, and it helped pass the time. When the big day finally arrived, Naruto returned to the apartment and slipped a letter under the door. The wording wouldn't reveal anything if was read by the wrong person, but it was handwritten, and Naruto was certain the clone would recognize it as being from him.

With that taken care of, he went back to work at the restaurant. The first couple of days had been fairly empty, but business was picking up a bit today. Most of his customers seemed to like the place and word must have been getting around. It was around dinnertime when Naruto sensed the clone heading his way. He was confused by what it thought it was doing. Why would it meet with him in such a public place? Was it revenge for his little prank?

Actually, he recognized another chakra signature next to the clone. It was a young girl who had been in here just the other day. Could he really be so unlucky that she was just dropping by for a meal? He considered hiding upstairs in the living area, but that would hardly work with the customers in here. Well, the clone was walking in the door now, so he had to think fast. Naruto needed to make sure they at least had their stories straight. Spinning around when it entered, he feigned surprise at what he saw.

"Hello, Naruko-chan," he said quickly. "I don't know how well you remember me, but I'm your brother, Naruto."

* * *

Naruko was furious, and she couldn't even chew Naruto out properly because they were in public. Actually, thinking it over, she'd have every reason to be upset.

"Is he really your brother?" Ino asked in surprise.

"I don't know," Naruko answered. "Probably. I mean I knew I had a brother, but I was so young I barely even remember him."

"Technically, I'm her half brother," Naruto interjected. "We have the same father."

She may not be able to say exactly what she wanted, but she could certainly vent a bit while staying in character.

"If you are my brother, then where have you been all these years?" she asked accusingly. "And why show up now and not even tell me? You were just going to sit here until whenever I happened to walk through the door and then drop all this on my lap?"

"What was I suppose to do?" Naruto said defensively. "Your village was wiped out and I had every reason to believe you were dead. It was only recently that an old friend told me he'd spotted a girl going by Naruko with the right looks to be my sister."

"Even if that's true, don't you think there's a better way you could have told me?" Naruko asked again.

"I promise you this wasn't what I had in mind," he assured her. "When I found you I discovered that you were finishing your last year of school. I was worried showing up again might be such a big shock it would interfere with your graduation."

Naruko was annoyed he was doing such a good job with the excuses. It would be hard to justify why she was still angry at him if he kept this up, and she was nowhere near out of steam.

"When you go home today you'll find I slipped a note under your door asking you to show up here tomorrow afternoon," he continued. "I was planning to close the whole place down and cook up a feast for you. It would have been part reunion and part celebration for graduating."

He probably was telling the truth about not wanting their meeting to go quite like this. But even showing up at all in Konoha without telling her was infuriating. It was far too great of a risk. She knew exactly what he was thinking too. He wanted to try something else, and if he blew up the original plan, no big deal. He'd just come up with a new idea and try again.

Naruto hadn't devoted six years to this little mission. Six years that, at times, had been _very _trying. It wasn't a huge problem to Naruto if this all fell apart, but Naruko was far more invested. After all her time she was _not _going to let him mess this up now. If he did, it would be far more frustrating than even that time she'd choked right at the end of a month of trying to purify her chakra.

"Calm down, Naruko," Sakura, told her. "It sounds like he had your best interests at heart. You finally met your brother again. This should be a happy occasion."

"I know," Naruko replied, gritting her teeth and doing her best to hide how ticked off she still was. "It's just such a shock I'm not sure how to deal with it."

"How about we deal with it by celebrating?" Ino suggested. "Now we have twice as many reasons to party."

So Naruko sat down and tried to pretend to have a good time. At least the food was high quality and free too. On that note, Naruto being here would solve most of her financial issues. Not that it would save him from her wrath as soon as she could find an excuse to be alone with him.

* * *

Naruko, as she'd insisted he call her even in private, so as not to slip up, had taken a few minutes to get her anger out of her system once he'd close up the restaurant and gotten a chance to talk to her alone. It was probably only because she'd realized he was enjoying her little tantrum that she let up so quickly. Still, when he was able to get a word in edgewise, he'd been able to explain his plan in detail.

"It is a good plan," he declared. "You have to admit that."

"I suppose it does have potential," she admitted. "That said, I'm going to lay down a few ground rules. First, I want you to keep me informed on everything you're up to. If you get anymore bright ideas, don't even think about trying them without talking to me first. I know Konoha much better than you do, so it's in your own best interest to do so."

"Fine, fine," Naruto agreed offhandedly. He'd had his fun anyway. He wasn't really planning to keep anything from her, and she was right about being more familiar with Konoha.

"Second, I will get you back for this," she vowed.

Naruto grimaced at that. He knew it would be coming, but he certainly wasn't looking forward to that day.

"I know myself well enough to know I can't talk you of that," he declared. "Just remember it was all in good fun."

"Oh don't worry, I'll think of something _very _fun," she vowed, smiling far too sweetly as she said it.

* * *

Naruko was barely on time for the meeting, having been a bit slow waking up that morning after not getting enough sleep the previous night. She certainly wished she still had a Biju battery to charge herself up whenever she needed. Actually getting tired when you didn't sleep was not fun. The rest of her team was already present, including both Minato and Kushina.

"Morning, Naruko. If you want to take today off, I think I can let it pass," Minato offered. "Letting you spend time with your brother is the least I can do after failing so miserably to find him."

"I wouldn't want to start slacking off on my first day," Naruko told him. "Besides, considering what I paid you, I think I got more than money's worth worth."

"Wait, you have a brother?" Kiba asked in surprise. "I thought you were an orphan."

"Orphans can have siblings, moron," Naruko answered.

"Be nice," Kushina admonished gently. "You're teammates now. You should try to get along."

"Anyway, you'll have all day to work on that," Minato informed them. "I'm actually hiring you myself for your first D rank mission. The basement of the Hokage Tower hasn't been cleaned in quite some time, and you three are going to rectify that."

"Cleaning?" Kiba whined. "What kind of a mission is that?"

"The same kind everyone starts with," Minato answered. "Work hard and do a good job on them, and you'll get more exciting missions soon enough. Now, I need to make sure the other rookie genin get set up as well, so Kushina will show you the way."

Leaving Minato behind, the three of them followed Kushina and soon arrived in the tower basement. It was clear their sensei hadn't been kidding about it not being cleaned in some time. There were spiderwebs, dust, and mold everywhere. This place would take ages to clean with just the three of them.

"We have the cleaning supplies already set up for you," Kushina told them, pointing to a collection of buckets, mops, scrub brushes, and the like. "Now as much fun as it would be to sit here and watch you clean, I trust the three of you can handle this on your own. Oh, but if Minato happens to stop by, I just stepped out for a minute. Now good luck. Make sure this place is spotless before you leave."

"This is stupid," Kiba complained. "What kind of work is this for a ninja?"

"Whining won't do us any good," Naruko told him as she grabbed a bucket of soapy water and a scrub brush. "The sooner we get started the sooner we can get it over with."

They quickly set to work, although the progress was much slower than Naruko would have liked. At least she had a bit of company for it, even if Hinata wasn't very talkative and Kiba talked entirely too much.

"Is your brother nice?" Hinata asked shortly into their cleaning. It was good to see her actually starting a conversation from time to time. A year ago that would have almost been a noteworthy event.

"Nice enough I suppose," Naruko answered. "I only met him again yesterday. We haven't exactly had much time to get to know each other."

"Well, I'm happy for you, Naruko," Hinata told her. "Sometimes I wish I had a sibling. Father would probably like that."

"I keep telling you, don't worry so much about what your old man thinks," Naruko advised her, knowing just where her thoughts were probably taking her. "Just work hard and do your best, and if that's not good enough for him, that's his problem."

"I'll try," Hinata replied, not sounding any more convinced than the other times Naruko had given her the same advice.

The conversation dropped off again and Naruko was getting sick of how hard it was to get a section of the wall clean. Given it was just the three of them down there, she decided to take a small risk to speed things up. Besides, it was getting to the point where it wouldn't be quite so implausible for her to know a trick or two with her chakra.

So she infused the mold and dust with chakra, loosening it from the wall so that the next time she passed her brush over it, the whole lot of it came free easily. She was able to progress several times faster in that manner, really starting to make a dent in the work they had remaining.

When she was passing over one section of wall, however, her chakra brushed against something. There seemed to be a small spot of some other chakra. When she tried to scan it more closely, she was surprised to see the wall in front of her fold back, revealing a staircase leading further down.

"Whoa, how did you do that?" Kiba asked excitedly.

"I was just cleaning over here, and it opened on it's own," Naruko told him, as she looked down the dark stairwell curiously.

"However it happened, we found ourselves an actual secret passage," Kiba announced cheerfully. "What do say we see where it goes?"

"I think we should go get Kushina," Hinata suggested. "We don't know what could be in there."

"That's what makes it fun," Kiba argued. "You're with me, right Naruko?"

If someone went to such lengths to hide that passage there was probably something interesting inside. Something they were unlikely to let rookie genin see even if they had discovered it. No, Naruko's only chance to find out would be to go now.

"Kushina did tell us to clean the whole basement before we left," Naruko pointed out. "And this looks like part of the basement to me."

"Yeah, we're just following orders," Kiba agreed, already starting his descent as he said spoke.

Naruko was about to berate him for not getting a flashlight or something first, but as soon as he entered small glowing lights appeared along the side, illuminating their way down. Naruko quickly went after the boy with Hinata cautiously bringing up the rear, clearly not wanting to be there.

The stairs didn't go on for long before they entered a small room that looked like some kind of lab. There were beakers and test tubes full of strange liquids all over the place. The room looked like it hadn't been used in years, but Naruko had to wonder just what kind of research had been going on down here.

Scanning the room she actually saw what appeared to be a mostly developed embryo in a jar. She assumed it must be fake, given how long it had been in there, but when she reached her senses out, she actually got a spark of life. Although something was interfering with her senses somehow, making it hard to get a good reading. Looking for the cause, her eyes were drawn to a seal placed on the jar.

It was one of the most complicated seals she'd ever seen. Even with all her experience she was having trouble figuring out what it was supposed to do. It looked like at least part of it was some sort of time manipulation, preventing it from affecting what was inside the jar, but she admitted even that she was half assuming based on the effect. She was still trying to puzzle it out when Kiba walked over.

"What are you looking at?" he asked, casually reaching out and peeling off the seal before Naruko realized what he was trying to do.

Doing so broke the effect it was having on the jar, and as if time was catching up, the embryo turned to dust in a matter of seconds. At the same time, the seal itself caught fire, forcing Kiba to drop it as a burnt to ashes. Naruko was about to berate him for being so careless when she suddenly felt the most blinding pain she'd ever experienced in her life. It felt as if her entire insides were being shredded to pieces. She involuntarily let out a scream and then everything went black.

* * *

Naruko awoke lying in a bed. She spotted four blurry figures standing over her which revealed themselves as the rest of her team when her vision cleared. Her mind quickly put together the memories of what had happened that led to this state.

"How long have I been out?" she asked.

"Just a couple of hours," Minato answered. "Don't worry, the doctors say there's nothing wrong with you. You just had a bit of a scare."

It hadn't been just a scare. That seal had done something. Still, if the doctors had looked her over and couldn't find anything, it was probably better to leave it at that. She didn't want them examining her too deeply. While she'd just proved her boast that she could fool a doctor with her clones, she didn't exactly want to press her luck.

"We all had a bit of a scare today," Kushina added. "I didn't know what to think when Kiba came racing out of the basement carrying you over his shoulder. What possessed you to go down into that lab in the first place? It could have turned out much worse than it did."

Naruko would have preferred she hadn't been presented with the image of Kiba carting her around like that. He'd probably expect her thanks too, even though it was his fault in the first place. Well he wasn't going to get it.

"I'm sorry," Hinata apologized at Kushina's remarks, looking terribly depressed.

"You have nothing to be sorry about, Hinata," Naruko assured her. "We practically had to drag you down there, so this clearly isn't your fault."

"Yeah," Kiba added. "It was my idea. I'll take the blame for this one."

"I think what you've already been through is punishment enough," Minato told them. "Besides, none of this would have happened if my wife had been keeping a better eye on you."

"Don't be like that," Kushina responded defensively. "Who ever heard of someone being sent to the hospital on a D rank mission?"

"So now that we're all forgiven, what was with that lab?" Kiba asked.

"I shouldn't tell you after the stunt you pulled," Minato replied, "but we believe it was one of Orochimaru's old labs. We thought we'd found them all, but apparently we missed one."

"Probably because nobody ever cleans down there," Naruko said, still a litter bitter about their first mission.

"Yeah, I suppose it was a good hiding spot at that," Minato said with a chuckle. "Anyway, you can rest up for the remainder of the day, but considering you have a clean bill of health, I want you back again at 8 AM tomorrow. Plan on doing a bit of training. Maybe that way you won't get overwhelmed on your next D rank mission."

Finally she'd actually be learning something from the Hokage himself. After six years of waiting, she just hoped it lived up to her expectations.

* * *

Naruto saw Ino walk into his restaurant again, bringing her team this time. Grabbing a set of menus, he walked over to their table and distributed them.

"I see you're back again today," he told Ino. "You must really like this place."

"You said Naruko's friends eat free," Ino reminded him. "That's hard to pass up. Anyway, these are my teammates, Shikamaru and Choji. And this is my sensei, Asuma."

"Pleasure to meet you all," Naruto told them warmly.

"By the way, does that eating free thing extend to my team?" Ino asked hopefully.

"Ino, don't try to take advantage of the man," Asuma chided her. "Anyway, today is my treat, so you don't need to worry about that."

"You have quite a variety of different menu items," Choji declared, as he seemed to be studying the sheet of paper very closely. "I hope the quality hasn't suffered just so you can make an impressive list. I'm always willing to try a new restaurant, but if the food isn't good, I won't be back."

"Fair enough," Naruto said with a bit of a laugh. "Let me know when you're ready to order."

As skeptical as Choji seemed about the quality of the food, he certain decided to sample quite a bit of it. Taking the large order Naruto set to work making the meals. Years of practice allowed him to quickly and confidently prepare the food, so it wasn't long before he was carrying it out to them. With no other customers needing him at the moment, Naruto hung around, hoping to strike up a conversation.

"So, have you known Naruko for long," he asked.

"We've been close friends for about five years," Ino answered. "She's had a fairly tough life as an orphan, and I don't want to see her hurt. So tell me, is this just some sort of sabbatical for you? Are you planning to go back to working at your temple anytime soon?"

"You don't have to worry about that," Naruto assured her. "I left the temple _before_ I heard about Naruko. Our father died years ago, and the old man who ran the place followed him a few months back, leaving the temple to me. Now we had maybe one visitor on a good year, and for all my training I was never particularly religious. So rather than stick around by myself, I gathered my stuff and left."

"So, how did you end up learning to run a restaurant living at a temple?" Shikamaru asked him.

"Well, there's not a lot to do at a temple," Naruto told him. "Even so, there's always plenty of books to read, and for whatever reason we had a fair number on cooking. That just happened to be a more entertaining hobby than working in our garden. Besides, the old priest had a bit of a weakness for a good meal. Going to buy ingredients we didn't grow ourselves was about the only way I could ever get him to let me leave the temple for a while."

They seemed to be buying it, not that that surprised him. Naruto had spent more than a little time working on his back-story, and wasn't about to slip up on a question as easy as that.

"That said," Naruto continued. "I'm afraid on the business side of things, I don't really know what I'm doing. I'm just kind of hoping it will all work out."

"That's pretty obvious," Ino chimed in. "You need to advertise this place a bit more. I mean you didn't even have a grand opening or anything. You just started up your business before most people even knew this was going to be a restaurant."

"Also, this food is actually really good," Choji admitted, somehow having worked through most of his during the brief conversation. "You could probably charge a lot more for it than you do. Now could I get a second helping of everything?"

"Take it easy, Choji," Asuma advised him. "I admit it's reasonably priced, but it's not _that_ cheap."

"But yeah," Ino added, "the food's good and the place just has a nice atmosphere. If you got the word out, I'm sure the place would be booming."

Naruto would probably prefer the place wasn't booming, but this was a nice lead on to start dropping one of his hints.

"The place had a nice atmosphere because I have the room set up to promote a chakra flow that relaxes everyone inside, thus creating the atmosphere you like so much," he explained.

"Oh, some type of feng shui?" Ino queried.

"Better than that," Naruto told her moving over to a nearby window and pulling back a curtain to reveal a seal underneath. "I have a number of these set up throughout the room getting the chakra to flow just right."

"Wait, this isn't some kind of mind control to make people like the food, is it?" Choji asked suspiciously.

"No more than a cool breeze on a hot summer day is mind control," Naruto assured him. "It's just a nice feeling. Nothing more."

"Looks pretty troublesome for such a small effect," Shikamaru noted. "It kind of reminds me of the stuff in the old books my father likes to read."

"Well, I did learn it from a rather old book," Naruto told the boy. "You're welcome to borrow it if you or your father are interested."

"Too dry a read for me," Shikamaru said in disinterest, "but I may as well take a look. The old man would probably be happy to go over it if he doesn't already have a copy."

"Great," Naruto said "I'll grab it for you before I leave. For now, I'll go get those seconds your friend wanted."

Naruto was glad he'd kept around a copy of the book he'd written all those years ago. It had helped him plant the first of his seeds. Now he just hoped it would sprout.

* * *

Shikamaru had gotten home before his father, carrying with him the old tome he'd borrowed. He didn't have anything much to do that evening, so against his better judgment, he actually cracked open the book himself. It certainly was old, with the pages well yellowed and having clearly seen better days.

That said, it was still quite legible on the pages he was glancing through. Not that he was particularly interested in the contents. As he'd anticipated it was full of dry and very technical writing. He tried reading a couple of passages in the middle, but was having trouble making sense of them. It was around that time that his father walked in.

"That isn't one of my books you're into, is it?" he asked when he saw what Shikamaru was reading.

"No, I borrowed this from someone else," he answered, which seemed to satisfy his father who went and sat down on the couch nearby.

"I don't know how you can stand reading stuff like this," Shikamaru told him. "It looks like a lot of work with little practical application."

"Those old writings were the basis of modern jutsu," his father answered. "And there's still a lot you can learn from them if you know how to look."

"Perhaps," Shikamaru replied, still not very interested in the possibility. "I suppose I can see the use for this one, even if it doesn't sound like the most efficient way to spy. A deep meditative trance that lets project your chakra so completely that you can actually see and hear what happens near it."

"Astral projection?" his father said, quirking an eyebrow. "Yeah, that would be nice to know how to do. But the technique was lost if it ever truly existed."

"Lost?" Shikamaru inquired. "The author seems to think it he knows how to do it."

"I'm sure he does," his father declared. "Nearly every book I've read seems to have its own opinion on how it was done. Unless you've got a copy of the Unknown Sage's 'Writings on Chakra and Spirituality' it's not exactly worth much."

Lifting up the book so his father could see the cover, he pointed to where the words 'Writings on Chakra and Spirituality' were clearly written.

"You mean this?" he asked.

"Don't try to mess with me. I'm not that gullible," his father said in a bored tone after glancing at the cover. "All copies of that book were destroyed shortly after it was written in the purges almost two hundred years ago. What little we know was pieced together by memory. Even that had limited success since basically everyone who had read it themselves was killed in those same purges. All that knowledge destroyed just because a few government bigwigs decided Biju worship was dangerous."

"Fine, don't believe me," Shikamaru said, annoyed at his father's lack of trust. "It's not as if a copy might have survived in some out of the way temple that almost no one visited or anything."

"Wait, don't tell me you're serious?" his father asked, still sounding skeptical. "Let me see that."

Getting up, his father walked over and grabbed the book, beginning to leaf through it. As his skimming progressed, Shikamaru could see his interest growing.

"This actually looks real," he said, sounding as if he barely believed it himself. "Where did you get it?"

"From a former priest who set up a restaurant in town," Shikamaru told him.

"Poor fool probably didn't have a clue just what he had his hands on," his father said. "There are people who would pay a fortune to get a look at this."

Pity Shikamaru hadn't known. He could have made a copy, sold it himself, and never again have to bother with anything as troublesome as working. Still, there was something about that book that was tugging at the back of his mind. He felt as if there was something odd about it, but couldn't figure out what it was. Oh well, it was probably just his imagination anyway.

* * *

Naruko was a bit disappointed by the training so far. It was only their first day of it, but she had hoped they'd be learning something instead of just showing off what they could already do. Currently, Minato was having Naruko and Hinata spar while Kiba and Akamaru were tearing up the place with their gatsuga.

For her part, Naruko was letting her mind wander. Hinata's juken was very much by the book and even after all these years, she could still tell what was coming and avoid it, practically her sleep at this level. A duck here, a quick step to the left there, lean back a bit right after. The only challenging part was sticking to the academy style rather than falling into juken herself.

Now here came a leg sweep. Naruko would avoid it and counter attack at the same time with a flying kick. Only her leap was interrupted when instead of the attack Naruko had been expecting, Hinata charged forward and slammed a palm into her chest before Naruko had even left the ground. The attack didn't have much force behind it, so it did little more than drive her back a step, but Minato had already stopped the fight.

"Nice work Hinata," he told her. "I think I've seen enough for today. You and Kiba can head home, but I'd like to talk to Naruko for a minute."

Naruko was silently berating herself for messing up like that. She'd seen Hinata sparring enough in the past that she should have known there wouldn't be a leg sweep. Juken had changed a lot in the hundreds of years since she'd learned it.

Back then it was a taijutsu style being modified to incorporate the byakugan. Now they'd had centuries to refine it. A leg sweep may have made tactical sense for a normal fighter in that situation, but given how much more damage a simple tap with the hands could do, they'd worked in a different approach.

"Your mind wasn't in that fight," Minato remarked when Hinata was no longer in range of hearing. "Is something wrong?"

"No, I'm fine," Naruko assured him. "Just was getting a bit bored. I was kind of hoping you might teach us something today."

"We'll get to that, soon," Minato promised. "I just need to really understand what you're already capable of first. Although that's hard to do if you're not really trying."

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "Still, can't you at least give me something to work on outside of official training? Hinata and Kiba have their clans working with them in addition to team meetings. I'd really appreciate something to occupy my time as well."

"I suppose that's not too much to ask," Minato replied after a bit of thought. "Do you know your elemental nature?"

"Wind," she informed him. It always had been the element she had the greatest affinity for.

"That's convenient. I'm wind type as well, so I know a lot of jutsu that will suit you. Here, hold this."

Minato then handed her one of his kunai before teleporting away. He was gone for almost a minute before appearing in front of her again, this time holding a scroll.

"I wrote you up a guide to a C rank wind jutsu, reppusho," he told her. "You can use it to create a burst of wind in front of you. I look forward to seeing the progress you make with it."

"I'll have it mastered by tomorrow," she promised him. "So you better have something else ready for me then."

"I think I might be able to find something else if you're ready for it," he told her. "Just don't work yourself too hard trying to live up to your boast."

Naruko immediately scanned through the scroll even as Minato was leaving. It was a pretty basic jutsu. The type of thing she probably could have come up with herself pretty quickly if she'd been asked. But the point was that she was on the right track. She'd learn whatever Minato would give her, and hopefully he'd start working his way up to more interesting techniques.

Naruko grasped the concept behind the scroll pretty quickly. It had a somewhat rough drawing that still clearly diagrammed how she would need to manipulate her chakra to get the desired effect. Convinced she knew what she needed to do, she controlled her chakra just as it showed in the drawing and clapped her hands together. Her results were quite underwhelming as she got little more than a breeze.

Naruko was sure she'd done it just as the scroll had shown. Was this just a prank by Minato? Suddenly it hit her. This technique depended on her chakra being attuned to the wind element. She hadn't adjusted the nature of her chakra at all, so the small breeze had just been the result of her natural affinity.

The scroll even mentioned that if she'd bothered to finish reading it instead of just looking at the diagram, but she should have known regardless. Naruko wasn't sure why she'd blanked on that for a minute there.

Starting over, she properly prepared her chakra and went through the motions again. This time the results were much more satisfying, as she got a strong gust that could easily knock a person over if it caught them by surprise. It was actually pretty fun to use, and Naruko set to work figuring out ways to work it into her fighting style.

After tossing around a few more, just to get a feel for how to adjust the strength of the resulting blast, Naruko began experimenting with using it in conjunction with thrown weapons. It proved quite effective, although more so with shuriken than kunai. The latter were difficult to keep the point facing forward while they were being blasted from behind by the wind.

It was a bit disappointing how quickly she tired from her training. This body just didn't have anywhere near the chakra reserves she was used to. While she was resting for a bit to let her chakra recharge, she saw Sasuke walking her way. With the smirk that was on his face, he was obviously up to something.

"I heard you had quite the scare yesterday?" he called out mockingly. "I never figured you for the type that would scream and faint over a little shock."

Perfect, Sasuke had heard about that. Kiba probably couldn't wait to start boasting about his role in the whole ordeal. For her part, Naruko turned her back to Sasuke and did her best to ignore him.

"Don't be like that," Sasuke told her, darting around Naruko to get in front of her again. "It's actually kind of a good in a way. Before that, I don't think I could have come up with a single girlish trait you had."

"That's funny, I can think of all sorts of girlish traits you have," Naruko fired back, pleased to see his lips tightening in anger. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm done with training for today."

Thankfully Sasuke didn't follow when she walked off, and Naruko was no longer in the mood to continue her training. Maybe she'd go get something to eat.

* * *

Hinata hung back for a bit after their sensei had dismissed them, hoping to talk to Naruko. When it was clear that she was staying back to do a bit of training, however, Hinata decided to leave on her own, not wanting to distract her friend.

They hadn't stopped training for lunch, and it was already after the middle of the afternoon, so Hinata was getting a bit hungry. She would have preferred to go with Naruko, but she'd been meaning to see what his brother was like. And since he ran a restaurant, she could get something to eat at the same time.

Hinata quickly reached her destination, entering to find that she was the only customer. She supposed it wasn't the exactly the most common time to get a meal, falling between lunch and dinner. Naruto didn't seem to notice her enter and not really wanting to call out to him, she just took a seat and waited.

He continued his work cleaning dishes back in the kitchen area, which was strange because she was sure he'd looked in her direction more than once. Hinata was beginning to suspect she'd done something wrong. Maybe the restaurant was closed now and he was too polite to call her out on it. He might just be waiting for her to leave. She had just about decided that she would do that when he finally did acknowledge her.

"In case you haven't figured it out yet, I've been ignoring you," he told her coldly. "I don't serve Hyugas in here. So get up out of your chair, and get out of my restaurant."

Hinata was so stunned she completely froze.

"Now," Naruto said sharply, snapping Hinata out of her stupor as she hopped out of the chair and was hurrying out of the door, not even daring to look back.

She began to wander around in a fog, not even sure where she was going. Naruko's brother hated her. Maybe he would convince Naruko to start hating Hinata too. No, she wasn't like that. But would she continue to be friends with Hinata if it created a wedge with her brother? Hinata could hardly ask her to choose her over family. Maybe she could request to be transferred off the team so Naruko wouldn't be put between them. Hinata was so out of sorts, that she didn't even notice the person in question right in front of her until she spoke up.

"What's wrong, Hinata?" Naruko asked in concern.

"It's nothing," Hinata answered. Naruko was so nice, but right now her kindness was only making it worse for Hinata.

"I have a tip for you," Naruko told her. "Don't try to tell someone there's nothing wrong when you're half in tears. Now what happened?"

"It really wasn't anything important," Hinata insisted not wanting to speak poorly of Naruko's brother in front of her. "I just haven't had lunch yet and I'm a bit tired and hungry from training."

"Well, if you're hungry, how about we go grab something to eat?" Naruko offered. "We could ... wait, you didn't go to my brother's restaurant, did you?"

Hinata wasn't sure how to answer that without the conversation moving in an awkward direction.

"I can see that you did," Naruko said with a sigh. "I should have seen this coming. Anyway, come with me."

Without even waiting for a reply, Naruko grabbed her arm and began dragging her off behind her. Hinata soon realized they were headed back to Naruto's restaurant and tried briefly to protest, but Naruko continued on as if she hadn't even heard her. Before she knew it, she found herself pulled back through the door, seeing the place still devoid of customers.

"Why did you bring her here?" Naruto asked in annoyance, causing Hinata to duck her head in shame, wishing she were anywhere but there.

"You mean my teammate?" Naruko answered sharply. "I brought her here because I know you said something stupid to upset her. And why? Because she's a Hyuga? I'd like to know what Hanabi or Nanami would have thought about you finding it okay to hate someone just because they're a Hyuga."

Hinata was surprised to see Naruko standing up so strongly for her against her own brother. It was a nice feeling, even if she felt somewhat lost in this conversation, having no idea who these people were they were talking about.

"You know it's not that I hate her," Naruto said defensively. "I just don't want anything to do with the Hyuga."

"Well you probably could have fooled Hinata the way she took it," Naruko snapped. "She's a sweet girl who probably hasn't done a thing in her life to harm anyone. I don't know what you said, but whatever it was, you hurt her more than you probably realized. Now you're going to apologize right now and you're going to mean it. And if Hinata ever has to put up with you again, you're going to be as polite and friendly as you can possibly be."

Hinata was sure Naruto had hated her too much to be moved, but somehow, Naruko's words seemed to have reached him.

"She's right," Naruto said, letting out a sigh. "I know it's no excuse, but I just had some bad experiences with the Hyuga Clan in the past. I took that out on you, and that was wrong of me. I know you have no reason to forgive me, but I want you to know that I truly am sorry."

Naruto really did look remorseful as well. Hinata wondered just what her clan had done to Naruto that had upset him so much. She supposed they could be a bit difficult to deal with at times, so it wasn't hard to believe they'd wronged him in some way. She was just happy everything had worked out so well.

"No, I really do forgive you," Hinata assured him. "I'd just like to apologize on behalf of my clan for whatever was done to you."

"Come on Hinata," Naruko complained. "You shouldn't be apologizing to him in this situation. If anything you should sock him a good one as punishment for what he did. Believe me, he deserves it."

"No, I'm sure he didn't mean it," Hinata said, smiling at how good a friend she had."There's no need for anything like that."

"You really are a nice person," Naruko praised her before pivoting quickly and sending a fist into her brothers gut with what looked like her full power behind it, causing him to double over in pain. "But I'm not, so I'll punish in your place."

Hinata stood gawking at the sight in front of her, hardly believing what she'd just seen. Although perhaps she hadn't hit him quite as hard as it had looked like as Naruto appeared to already be recovering from the assault.

"Now when you're done picking yourself up, start making us some food," Naruko ordered him. "We're both starved."

Hinata's stomach growled in response, reminding her just how hungry she really was. She was looking forward to that meal with Naruko. And to think how upset she'd been only minutes ago. She never should have doubted her friend.

* * *

Naruko was becoming more than a bit uppity for a clone. Although in this case, Naruto supposed he had deserved it. Even in the short time he'd spent with Hinata while the two of them had been eating, it was pretty clear that Naruko had been correct. Hinata was a shy girl, and had a very un-Hyuga like disposition. She didn't even seem to harbor any ill will over the treatment Naruto had just given her. Well, lesson learned and all that. You really couldn't judge someone just by their clan.

Now, however, he was alone with his thoughts again. Not that it was likely to remain that way for long as the dinner crowd would be arriving shortly. In fact, Naruto could sense someone approaching already. Whoever it was, though, their chakra was quite impressive, being powerful and well organized. Although Naruto should be too surprised by that. He lived in a village of ninja, and they had to eat as well.

When the man actually walked into the restaurant though, Naruto became convinced this was no simple customer. The black-haired young man was wearing the cloak of an organization Naruto thought he had wiped out centuries ago.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"My name is Uchiha Itachi," he answered, "and I came to confirm you really were still alive, Hyuga Naruto."

* * *

**Author's Notes**

And to think, there was a time I tried to avoid cliffhangers. Hopefully the NaruHina fans among you don't kill me for that scene where Naruto was so mean to her. Maybe they'll be merciful since he apologized in the end.

By way, anyone know something in Open Office I can use as a scene break that isn't eaten by the site when I upload it? I'm sick of manually going through and putting the horizontal bars back in for every chapter.


	7. Consequences

Naruto's eyes narrowed in response to a name he didn't expect anyone to know. Whoever this Uchiha Itachi was, he'd found his way to some information Naruto did _not_ want getting out.

"Me? A Hyuga? Do my eyes look white to you?" Naruto asked, hoping the man wasn't as sure of himself as he sounded.

"Yes," Itachi answered, unphased by Naruto's ploy. "I know quite a great deal on your background. For example, you're much older than you look."

"If you're such an expert on me, you should have known better than to wear that cloak in my presence," Naruto said coldly, deciding to drop the act.

"Akatsuki isn't the same organization it used to be," Itachi told him. "We would actually be interested in working with you, if possible. You'll find our goals aren't so different from your own."

"So you say," Naruto said skeptically, "but I'm at a bit of a disadvantage. For all you know about me, I know very little of you or your organization. For starters, how were you able to identify me? For that matter, how did you even know I existed?"

"I'm a member of Akatsuki and an Uchiha," Itachi answered. "Is it that surprising I would know of you?"

"What does being an Uchiha have to do with anything?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"You really don't know, do you?" he responded enigmatically.

"As much as I'd like to sit here and play your game all day, there's someone coming," Naruto informed him. "So I want you out of here, now."

Itachi, however, showed no sign of listening, stubbornly staying put even as Naruto could sense the approaching figure grow closer. It was clear this was deliberate. He just hoped Itachi knew that blowing his cover would hardly endear him to the man.

"I said, get out!" he yelled, just as Sakura appeared in the door, wanting to at least make it clear the two of them were not friends.

"I will give you time to consider our offer," Itachi told him, "but I will return."

Itachi finally did vanish in a burst a speed, leaving Naruto alone with a wide-eyed Sakura.

"Who was that?" Sakura asked him.

"Just someone who wouldn't take no for an answer," Naruto replied.

She didn't press the issue, but it was clear that his words hadn't satisfied her. Naruto just hoped this meeting didn't cause him any trouble.

* * *

"I assume you called me here because of the Itachi situation?" Sarutobi asked after he'd entered Minato's office.

"Yes, I take it you already know, but we have several reports of him being spotted in Konoha," Minato announced. "And judging by his attire, he's joined Akatsuki. Based on the information at hand, the only thing I can conclude is that he wanted us to know this."

"He seems determined to make himself out to be the villain to protect his clan's honor," Sarutobi declared. "I can only hope that's all this is. Itachi truly having turned against us is a rather unpleasant thought. Still, that doesn't explain why you summoned me. You know all this as well as I do."

"It's just that Jiraiya has been investigating Akatsuki, and I'm trying to get in contact with him," Minato explained. "Of course, you know just how hard that can be. I was hoping you might have some way to get a message to him quickly."

"I may have an idea or two," Sarutobi admitted. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you," Minato told him. "I'd really like to hear his opinion on this."

* * *

Sasuke returned home early, their team being dismissed when Sarutobi-sensei was called away for something. Not that Sasuke was complaining about having a few less D rank missions to run that day. Entering the house he called out that he was home, startling his mother.

"I wasn't expecting you so soon," she said looking nervous about something. "Is anything wrong?"

"I didn't think so," Sasuke answered, "but I suspect there is based on how you're acting. What is it?"

His mother let out a sigh. "I really don't want to tell you this," she began, "but I'm sure you'll hear sooner or later, and it's best you hear it from me. Itachi was spotted in the village today."

Sasuke let out a gasp before clenching his fists involuntarily. Why would Itachi have come to the village without stopping to see Sasuke? Sasuke had been hoping for word from his brother for years, and he admitted that this news came as quite a blow.

"Sasuke we've been over this before," his mother said, trying to calm him down. "Itachi is gone. I don't want to see you obsessing over him again. You should move on and let the village deal the matter."

"How can I just move on?" Sasuke asked angrily. "We've never once heard his side of the story. All we have is the word of a few men, none of whom I'd trust nearly as much as Itachi. How do we know they didn't kill father and frame Itachi for it?"

"Please, Sasuke," his mother pleaded with him. "It's been years since that day. Can't you just forget about Itachi and live your own life?"

"I'm sorry," Sasuke told her. "I can't do that yet."

And with that, he was back out the door, determined to find out everything he could about Itachi's recent appearance.

* * *

"I believe you owe me a new jutsu," Naruko told Minato with a smirk after showing off her mastery of reppusho.

"I suppose I do," Minato answered cheerfully. "But before that, I've got a bit of news for all of you. I have some plans for the team in the near future, and I want to make sure you're prepared. So even though it's a bit early for this, I'm giving you a C Rank mission today."

"Nice!" Kiba cheered. "What exactly are we doing?"

"We have a couple men running a patrol in the area around Konoha," Minato informed them. "They were supposed to report in earlier today, but we haven't heard from them yet. We're going to head to their patrol route and try to locate them. Hinata, Kiba, you're both well suited to a tracking mission, so I hope I can rely on you."

"You bet you can," Kiba declared confidently.

"I'll try not to let you down," Hinata added meekly, in stark contrast to Kiba's own reply.

"Good," Minato nodded, "we'll leave immediately."

The four ninja and one dog, Kushina being absent today, soon set out from Konoha and began traveling through the surrounding woods. After about an hour, they reached the edge of the patrol route and began their search. Barely fifteen minutes into that, Akamaru picked up a scent. Following it, they soon came upon a trail of blood.

"Akamaru says the trail splits," Kiba announced. "Three men go off in the direction of the blood, with one remaining figure heading off that way."

"We're going to split up," Minato ordered them on hearing that. "I'm sure I can track a bleeding man, and that looks like where the trouble is going to be anyway. The three of you continue to follow the other trail. I'm hoping it's our remaining scout trying to get away with what he knows. Still, I'm going to leave you one my kunai. I'll check in periodically with hiraishin to make sure you're okay."

All of them realizing the seriousness of the situation, they simply nodded. Kiba took the kunai and they set off after Akamaru while Minato disappeared in the other direction. She only hoped Minato was in time to save whoever had left that trail. They'd barely been traveling for a minute when Hinata called out for them to stop.

"There are two men hiding behind the trees in front of us," she told them. "Neither of them look like they're from Konoha."

Realizing their ambush was spoiled, two figured dressed completely in black jumped out and charged them. Naruko couldn't see any marks that would identify where they were from, and they had cloth masks that covered their faces, save for the eyes.

Dodging around several shuriken tossed by the man on the right, Naruko met his charge. The man blocked her opening fist with a crossed guard and then leaped back, trying to get some distance. Deflecting a thrown kunai with a kunai of her own, Naruko again tried to draw in close, but the man continued to dance back outside of her range.

Glancing at her teammates, she saw that they were fairing quite well against the remaining ninja, who was completely on the defensive against the combined might of the gatsuga and Hinata's juken. His partner seemed to notice his distress as well, using Naruko's moment of distraction to slip around her and rush to the other ninja's aid.

"Catch, Hinata," Naruko called out, firing a quick reppusho into the man's back, knocking him off balance and sending him toward Hinata faster than he'd planned.

Hinata was ready for him when he arrived, having heard Naruko's warning. It looked like he wouldn't be able to avoid taking a blow from Hinata's Juken, one that would likely injure him severely. However, at nearly the last moment, a third ninja slammed into him from the side, pushing the both of them away from Hinata.

Naruko quickly looked around to see if they had anymore friends hiding in the area, but saw no signs of any. They no longer had the numerical advantage unless they counted Akamaru, but Naruko was hoping to correct that quickly. She'd noticed her earlier opponent seemed to prefer to stay at range, so she was going to do her best to stick close and take him out.

Before he'd even fully recovered, she was already attacking the man, forcing him to scramble wildly to avoid her assault. She wasn't letting him get any space, and it looked like she would break through his guard any time now. Even one on one, Hinata and Kiba both seemed to have the upper hand in their own fights as well.

Clearly realizing that he was poorly equipped to deal with his own opponent, Naruko's target sent a hail of kunai at her left side. As soon as they'd left his hands, he was already using them as a shield to try to circle around Naruko in order to again come to the aid of his allies.

Naruko, however, was not about to let him get past her again, and rather than dodging the kunai charged right through them, taking three that dug deeply into her left arm and shoulder. The man was so unprepared for this, that he had no defense when Naruko slammed a spinning kick into the side of his knee, dropping him to the ground where he clutched the joint in pain. Naruko was about to follow through and take him out of the fight when Minato appeared between her and the man, bringing her up short.

"Stop!" Minato yelled out authoritatively. "That's quite enough."

Enemies and allies alike listened to his command, bringing a halt to all hostilities. Naruko was at a loss for what was going on until the ninja that had joined the fight late dropped a henge to reveal it had been Kushina all along. The other two simply pulled off the masks they'd been wearing revealing two faces Naruko thought she might have seen around the village at times. It appeared this whole mission had been an elaborate hoax.

"I think that crazy brat may have broke my knee," the man she'd injured complained loudly.

"If you can't fight a rookie genin without either of you getting hurt, it's you're own fault, Kotetsu," Kushina told him unsympathetically.

"How was I supposed to know she had a death wish?" he argued. "Any sane person would have dodged that attack."

"Kotetsu is right," Minato reprimanded her sternly. "Your team appeared to have the upper hand, and you knew you had a powerful ally who would be appearing shortly. What possessed you take a risk like that?"

"I knew the wound wouldn't be serious," Naruko answered. "And I was confident I could use the opening to take out my opponent. That way, I could go and aid my team sooner."

"What if they were poisoned?" Hinata asked, cutting into the conversation with more conviction than she usually showed.

Poisoned or not, Naruko wasn't used to having to concern herself with minor injuries like that. Still, she could hardly explain that until recently she would heal almost any wound in seconds.

"I'm sorry," she said instead. "I should have been more careful."

"Being willing to sacrifice yourself for the sake of your team is commendable," Minato told her, "but you should consider their feelings as well."

"Well, I for one thought it was pretty awesome," Kiba praised her.

"You shouldn't focus so much on the negatives anyway, Minato," Kushina told him. "They didn't fall for the ambush. They worked well together as a team. None of them panicked in their first real combat situation, and they fought better than genin with their level of experience have any right to."

"I just wanted to make sure the lesson sunk in, but you're right," Minato admitted. "It was very impressive work overall. Now, Izumo, why don't you help Kotetsu back to the village. I'll see that Naruko gets patched up and we'll meet you at the hospital."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," he answered, moving over to help his companion up.

"Now, let me have a look at your arm before you bleed yourself out," Minato ordered her.

She complied and her whole team was soon fussing over her wounds, despite the fact they weren't really that bad. Naruko wondered how they would feel if they knew the person they were so concerned with was really just a clone acting out a role. She actually felt a bit guilty letting them think otherwise, but she'd just have to live with it for the sake of her goal.

* * *

Sasuke hadn't had any luck finding Itachi the previous day. Nor had his attempts to gather information provided much more than he already knew. Itachi had been in the village, but no one knew what he was doing there. His outfit had been the only thing Sasuke had managed to pick up that was even remotely useful.

Not having any leads, Sasuke had reluctantly shown up for their mission that day, but he went through the motions with even less enthusiasm than he could normally muster for a D rank. He was so distracted that it wasn't until nearly the end of the day that he noticed Sakura was behaving strangely as well. She hadn't even attempted to speak to him once.

That was a good thing as far as Sasuke was concerned, but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to just leave her to her own problems. If nothing else, maybe he could get a hint as to how to keep her from bothering him so much in the future. So when they were done for the day, he approached her after Sarutobi-sensei and Shino had left.

"You're even less useful than usual today," he told her. "Are you ill?"

"No, it's just … I've been a bit worried about Naruko and I'm not sure what to do," Sakura answered.

"If it's about Naruko, then I really don't want to hear it," Sasuke told her coldly, turning to walk away.

"Don't be like that," she told him. "It's just that I saw Naruko's brother talking with a strange man. He was mentioning something about an offer. Naruto didn't seem to be happy to see him, but I'm still worried he might be involved with the wrong sort of people. I kind of want to tell someone, but I may get Naruko's brother in trouble when I don't even really know what's going on."

Wait, he was talking to a strange man? No, Sasuke was just so focused on Itachi that he was seeing him behind every shadow. Still, it didn't hurt to ask.

"Do you recall what he looked like, or how he was dressed?" Sasuke inquired.

"I only saw him from behind," Sakura answered. "But he had dark hair and was dressed in a black cloak with a pattern of red clouds on it."

Sasuke had barely even waited for her to finish her words before he was off. He ignored Sakura's calls from behind him as he raced to the restaurant in question. Sakura's chatter was paying off twice today, first in giving him a clue as to the purpose Itachi's visit, and second in that she'd gone on enough about the restaurant in the past that Sasuke could locate it despite never having been there.

Meanwhile, his mind was racing trying to figure out just what about Naruko's brother would have interested Itachi. He had been making the man an offer? One that he wasn't happy about? What did Sasuke actually know about the man?

Sasuke was afraid that he could count those items on one hand. He ran a restaurant, he was a former priest, and he supposedly looked somewhat like the Yondaime. None of those offered any insight at all. Unless … was it possible that it was more than a simple resemblance? Could it be that they were actually related?

It seemed like a stretch, but it was the only thing Sasuke had to go with. If the Hokage were somehow involved in whatever had forced Itachi to leave the village, a relative of his could make a powerful bargaining chip. Reaching his destination, Sasuke put his musings aside in order to confront the man in question as he barged through the door.

"I'm sorry, but I closed up early today," a man who could only be Naruto told him. He really did resemble the Yondaime.

"Why was my brother here yesterday, and what did he have to say?" Sasuke demanded of him, as he charged up and poked the blond in chest forcefully.

"Your brother?" Naruto asked as he pushed the arm aside, not looking amused at the provocation. "I don't even know who you are. You might want to be a bit more polite if you want something from me in the first place."

"I mean Itachi," he told him. "And don't try to say he wasn't here. I know that he was."

"Ah, yes," Naruto said. "I should have guessed that meeting would cause problems. I'd never met the man before yesterday, but he barges in here recruiting for some organization of his. I told him I wasn't interested, and he left."

"My brother is one of the most powerful ninja there are," Sasuke boasted. "What would he want with the likes of you?"

"Beats me," Naruto said with a shrug. "Maybe he's religious and he wanted spiritual council. He never actually said."

"I find that hard to believe," Sasuke informed him.

"Well he's your brother. You should have a better idea of what he'd want than me. I'm at a loss."

Sasuke was all but certain the man knew more than he was letting on, but he doubted that interrogating him further would lead to any answers. Besides, he already had one of the things he came for. As he stormed out the building without further word, Sasuke examined the very thin needle he'd adhered to the end of his index finger.

It was thin enough that a person wouldn't even feel that they'd been pricked, but Sasuke was pleased to see a small drop of blood on the tip of the needle. He slipped it off his finger and into a plastic bag, which he sealed as he set course for the hospital. Upon arriving, he entered and followed the signs on the wall until he located the directors office.

"Can I help you?" a young woman asked, intercepting him when he was heading for the door.

"I need to see the director," he told her.

"I'm afraid the director is very busy," she informed him. "You'll have to make an appointment."

"This is extremely important," Sasuke insisted loudly, angry at being stopped "The director will want to see me."

"Let me know what it is and I'll make that call," she argued, not sounding very happy with him either.

"Oh just let him in, Shizune," a voice yelled out from behind the door. "It's not like I can get any work done with you two making a racket out there anyway."

"Right away, Tsunade-sama," Shizune answered, jumping to comply.

Sasuke smirked as he walked past her and into the office, where he was faced with a very unhappy looking woman.

"Whatever made you decide to bother me, it had better be important, brat," she threatened him.

"I have a blood sample I want you to analyze the DNA for," he told her, holding out the plastic bag.

"I don't supposed you bothered with anything as trivial as getting consent from whoever this is, did you?" she asked, pausing only long enough to see that he wasn't going to correct her. "Analyzing this would be unethical. I don't know what you think it would prove, and frankly, I don't care."

"Not even if it belongs to a relative of the Yondaime?" Sasuke asked teasingly. "Maybe even his son?"

Tsunade involuntarily glanced at the bag again in response.

"I find that hard to believe," she told him. "Nor would that be enough to get me to do this even if you had some evidence to back that."

"I could be wrong," Sasuke admitted. "But I know my brother, Itachi, is interested in this man, and he's not known for making mistakes. Also, this man has a younger sister who is a rookie genin. If I'm right, she could be in danger as well."

"This is all very interesting," Tsunade told him. "But you should really be bringing this up with the Hokage himself. Given the circumstances, I can see why you might want to avoid that, but without orders, there's nothing I can do."

"Well, I'll just leave this with you," Sasuke told her. "If you're willing to spend the rest of your days wondering if I was right and worrying whether an innocent girl might be harmed because of your ethics, then go right ahead. At least if the worst happens, you can tell yourself you were doing the right thing."

With that, Sasuke walked out, leaving Tsunade to her thoughts. He wondered how long her morals would last now that she was alone. For all his talk Sasuke figured it would be pretty safe to come back sometime tomorrow.

* * *

Naruko had snuck out of her home shortly after lunch. She'd been put on medical leave to recuperate from her wounds, but she was sick of people dropping by to wish her well and/or lecture her on her recklessness.

Now she found herself wandering around the town, wondering what to do. Her meandering eventually took her to set of hot springs which she looked at longingly. She hadn't been in a hot spring since … well, she couldn't even remember when just then. It had obviously been too long, but in her current body, she wasn't comfortable with going in either side of a public bath.

Still, she walked around the outside of the wall, withing she could go in. Actually, a simple henge and she'd be able to go in the male side without causing a stir. She was just about to go through with the plan when she spotted a middle-aged man with white hair who was clearly peeping through a hole in women's side of the springs. Deciding to do her good deed for the day, Naruko confronted him.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked icily.

"Quiet brat," he said glancing at her quickly. "This is adult stuff. You wouldn't understand."

"I'm not so young as to not recognize peeping when I see it," Naruko said, temper beginning to flare. "Now if you don't leave immediately, I'm going to make sure everyone in there knows what you're doing."

"Now, now, there's no need to be unreasonable," he said soothingly, backing away from the hole.

When he was a safe distance away, he actually began to look Naruko over intently, to the point she wondered if he recognized her from somewhere. Finally, he reached into a pocket, pulling out a card and handing to her.

"Now that I look you over, I see that you have potential," he told her. "Give me a call in a few years. I may be able to write you into one of my books."

Naruko had reached her limit and was about to blow her top and bring down the wrath of all the women in the bath upon him when a masked Anbu member dropped down next to them.

"Jiraiya-sama," he called out. "The Sandaime was right about finding you here. You're needed immediately. Something important has come up."

This man was the legendary Jiraiya of the Sannin? She supposed that being skilled didn't require one to have a decent personality, but wasn't this pushing it a bit much?

"I've got to go," Jiraiya told her, "but you keep that card somewhere safe."

He quickly disappeared, following behind the masked man and leaving Naruko alone. Naruko was curious as to what could be going on, but decided it was none of her concern. She was going to get back to more important things, namely a nice hot bath.

* * *

Sasuke returned to the the hospital less than a day later. Quickly finding his way back to Tsunade's office, he wasn't stopped by anyone this time as he entered the door. This turned out to be because Shizune was already inside, discussing something with Tsunade.

"So, did you analyze the DNA yet?" he asked, watching a flash of guilt go across Shizune's face. "I can see from your assistant's reaction that you did. So, what did you find?"

"I shouldn't tell you this," Tsunade told him, but since it concerns you more than I realized, I will. "It's clear that this Naruto has a good bit of Uchiha blood in him. He even has some of the special base pairs found in those with bloodlines. Specifically, some of those that are found in those with the sharingan."

"Are you saying he might be able to use the sharingan?" Sasuke asked in shock.

"Almost certainly not," Tsunade answered. "I said he had some of the special base pairs. Less than half to be honest, but it was enough to convince me to compare it against a sample of Uchiha blood. So Itachi may have just been visiting a distant relative."

Sasuke wasn't about to believe that. Why would he visit someone he was hardly related to and not his own brother? His thoughts were interrupted when the Yondaime appeared in the room.

"What's this about a son?" he demanded to know, confirming Sasuke's original suspicion.

"Really not the best timing," Tsunade said with a sigh, "but since it's apparently impossible to keep it secret, yes, the DNA records indicate quite clearly that Naruto is your son."

"That's very interesting, considering I know for certain I don't have a son," Minato announced dangerously. "So I'm going to get to the bottom of why Naruto's blood says otherwise."

With that the Hokage was gone as suddenly as he'd appeared. If Naruto wasn't the Yondaime's natural son, that opened whole new lines of possibilities. Ones that were particularly unpleasant given the news that he had Uchiha blood as well.

It was well known that Orochimaru had fled the village after it had been discovered he'd been involved in practices such as human experimentation and cloning. Naruto may very well have been the result of an artificial hybrid of Minato and the Uchiha. Basically an attempt to make a Yellow Flash with the sharingan.

If Tsunade was telling the truth, that attempt had been a failure. If Naruto was a failed experiment, however, what did that make Naruko? A second attempt? It would explain how she'd been able to push him so hard in the academy, but it still left questions. Did she actually have the potential to use the sharingan? Did Itachi know that Naruto was a failure, and if so would he go after Naruko next?

Whatever the answers, Sasuke wouldn't find them standing around here. Exiting out Tsunade's window, despite Shizune's protests, he raced back to Naruto's restaurant. When he arrived, a quick search showed the place to be empty. If he'd been here, the Hokage had gotten to him first.

Sasuke's next stop was to Naruko's apartment, hoping she might actually know something. Unfortunately, her house was just as empty as the restaurant. The only option he really had left was to try to get some answers from the Hokage himself. Hurrying to the tower, he found his way blocked by two Anbu guarding the entrance.

"The tower's closed," one of them told him. "We have orders not to let anyone in."

"I already know what's going on in there," Sasuke insisted. "I'm the one who made the discovery that started all this. Now let me through."

The two of them looked at each other, both seeming unsure of how to handle the situation. He may be able to convince them to let his pass yet.

"You're to stick to your orders," a new voice declared, as an old woman exited the building. "Sasuke is neither needed nor desired inside."

Sasuke wasn't sure just who this old woman was, but he recognized seeing her around the Yondaime during a number of public events. The guards, however, must have known her, as in response to her words, they both firmed their resolve, clearly not intending to let him by. Sasuke ground his teeth at this, but would just have to deal with it.

He could still search the village for Naruto or Naruko, as he wasn't certain they were both in there. Even if it wasn't tonight, he vowed that he'd continue to dig until he knew exactly what was going on.

* * *

"Isn't that Naruko's brother?" Choji paused in eating his food to ask.

Looking up from the small table set up outside the soba place they were eating at, Shikamaru confirmed that Naruto was indeed being quickly led down the street by two members of Anbu.

"Yeah, that's him alright," Shikamaru said before lowering his head back to the table, not wanting to get involved.

"Shouldn't we like tell Naruko about this or something?" Choji asked.

"How?" Shikamaru asked. "Do you know where she lives?"

"Well, Ino would probably know," Choji suggested.

"Telling Ino would be too troublesome," Shikamaru argued. "We have to deal with her enough as it is. I don't want to see her outside of work."

"It'll probably be even more of a pain if she finds out we knew about this and didn't tell her," Choji countered.

"I suppose you're right about that," Shikamaru agree, not relishing the thought of what Ino would do if that came to pass.

"Good, then can you go and tell her?" Choji requested.

"Why do I have to?" Shikamaru complained.

"Because I'm still eating," Choji answered, before quickly ordering another bowl.

"Fine," Shikamaru told him, "but you owe me for this."

They weren't actually far from the Yamanaka Flower Shop, and Shikamaru arrived all too soon. He also found the place far more crowded than he would have like. Ino was present, but so were Sakura, Hinata, and even Kiba of all people.

"Don't tell me you're here to buy flowers for Naruko too," Ino asked dubiously. "I already told Kiba here that she won't be happy to get them."

"Naruko may tell me she doesn't want them, but all girls like flowers, right?" Kiba argued.

"Why would you think I'd want to give Naruko flowers?" Shikamaru asked.

"Because she was injured yesterday," Ino answered in annoyance. "I told you that today during our mission."

"Ah, that's right," Shikamaru responded, not wanting to admit that half the time he tuned out whatever Ino was saying. "Anyway, it's not that, but it is related to Naruko."

"Is something wrong?" Hinata asked nervously.

"Not with Naruko directly, as far as I know," he answered. "It's just that I saw her brother being led away by an Anbu escort."

"What?" Ino cried out. "Say something like that sooner!"

"Oh, no," Sakura said, sounding depressed. "This is my fault."

"What do you mean?" Ino asked her.

"A couple of days ago I saw Naruto talking with a suspicious looking man," Sakura admitted. "I mentioned something about it to Sasuke, who seemed really upset about the news. He may have told someone and gotten Naruto in trouble."

"Well, I don't want to get Naruko all worked up when we don't even know what's going on," Ino announced. "Not while she's still recovering. I'd like to get to the bottom of this first. Even so, we should have someone check on her."

"I'll go," Hinata offered.

"Great," Ino said with a nod. "The rest of us are going to see if there are any clues at Naruto's place."

Shikamaru was looking forward to being done with his part in this excitement, but found his arm grabbed by Ino as she pulled him along behind her. It would figure she wouldn't release him from her claws just yet. They found the restaurant empty when they arrived, but Ino boldly strode in, still dragging him along. Sakura and Kiba quickly followed.

"I doubt there will be anything incriminating out here," Sakura opined. "We should look upstairs."

So the four of them marched up the stairs to the living area, quickly locating the bedroom. The place was quite spartan in decoration and meticulously clean. Just a dresser, a rolled up futon, and a travel sack of some sort were visible.

"Is he supposed to actually be living here?" Kiba asked incredulously.

"He was a priest," Shikamaru pointed out. "He's probably used to living a fairly basic life."

"Remind me to never become a priest," Kiba muttered, heading straight for the sack and pulling things out, and tossing them casually to the side.

"Careful with those," Sakura berated him after a book and a couple of scrolls had gone flying. "It's bad enough we're searching through his private things. The least we can do is try to treat them with a little respect."

Shikamaru had already grabbed up the book and was looking at it curiously. It was titled 'The Wonders of Modern Living' and Shikamaru began to leaf through it. Scanning the pages it was clear this wonders in the book weren't terribly modern at all. The book had to be at least half a century old.

As he continued to flip through, Shikamaru discovered a bookmark pressed between the pages about halfway through. Actually, it wasn't just any bookmark, but a black and white photograph containing Naruto and a small girl.

"What have you got there?" Ino asked, grabbing the photo from him.

"It's not even color?" Kiba asked. "How ancient must that be? Naruto must really be like a hundred years old or something."

"It's called being artistic," Sakura corrected him. "Not that you'd understand, but some people appreciate the aesthetics of a style like this. The real question is, who is the girl in the picture?"

"Hey, look what I found," Kiba called out, having already lost interest in the photo and going back to searching Naruto's things.

He held up a small pouch and dumped the contents into his hand. Out poured a number of coins, many of which looked to be gold or silver.

"You know what this means, right?" Kiba asked.

"If you say anything about it proving Naruto really is extremely old, you're going to regret it," Sakura threatened.

"You need to keep an open mind," Kiba complained. "He could be using some sort of genjutsu like Tsunade."

"Then how would he have a twelve-year-old sister?" Ino asked him. "Unless you think she's secretly eighty or something."

"What are you kids doing in here?" a voice interrupted sharply, and Shikamaru turned to see none other than Koharu, one of the Hokage's councilors, glaring at them from the stairs. Now look what he'd been pulled into.

"We're trying to find some clues about Naruto's background," Ino answered nervously.

"I know for a fact that wasn't approved by anyone," Koharu informed them. "So it looks like breaking and entering to me."

"We're sorry," Sakura apologized. "We're just Naruko's friends, and we wanted to look into this for her sake."

"Well, show me what you found," Koharu ordered them.

Kiba quickly dumped the handful of coins back into the pouch and handed them off to Koharu. Ino then passed over the photo Shikamaru had found. Koharu didn't seem terribly interested in the coins, but her eyes widened when she saw the picture.

"So, do you recognize the girl in the picture?" Shikamaru asked.

"Can't you see the resemblance? It's me of course," Koharu quipped.

"I knew it," Kiba cried out in vindication.

"That was a joke," Koharu snapped at him. "I have no idea who the girl is, the important thing is the photo itself. I knew Naruto looked familiar, and now I know exactly why. I once visited a temple where the head priest had this old antique camera that he was terribly proud of."

"Ah, so it's just a really old camera," Sakura nodded in understanding.

"Yes," Koharu confirmed. "I'm just amazed he hasn't run out of film or flashbulbs yet. He must have had quite the stockpile. Still, it was years ago but there was a boy at the temple who looked much like Naruto."

"That's nice to know, but that doesn't explain why Naruto was dragged away," Ino interjected. "What exactly is going on?"

"It seems the Yondaime wasn't quite as faithful to his wife as he'd have us believe," Koharu told them. "A DNA analysis proved Naruto was his son. I suppose that would most likely make Naruko his daughter as well. The son of the Hokage would have been of interest to any number of our enemies, so it just made us more suspicious of his background."

"So what exactly is going to happen from here?" Kiba asked.

"It will go a long way to know he really was living on a temple here in the Land of Fire," Koharu told them. "Most likely he'll be released shortly. Nor do I think there was ever any suspicion cast on your friend."

"Well, if that mystery is solved, I'm going home," Shikamaru declared, leaving the room and walking down the stairs.

He grabbed a menu and stuffed it his his pocket before he left. He just wished he could have a nice quiet life instead of this mess.

* * *

When the two men showed up at his door demanding he come with them, Naruto groaned to himself but complied. They hardly had a reason to execute him outright, so he'd play along and hope this could still be salvaged. One thing was for certain though, Naruto was not happy with Uchiha Itachi right now.

When he was finally shoved into a room, he saw it contained three men and one woman. The only person who wasn't old enough to be covered in wrinkles was the Yondaime. One of the old men looked to be the face that was next to Minato's on the Hokage monument, even if age had made it harder to recognize. He didn't know who the other two were at all.

No sooner had Naruto been left there then another man entered the room. He was a white-haired man whose age clearly fell somewhere in the middle of the Yondaime and the other three occupants in the room.

"Jiraiya, I'm glad to see you could make it," the Sandaime greeted him.

"Yeah yeah, now what's this all about?" he asked. "I was in the middle of some important research."

"This is about Naruto here," Minato answered. "More precisely, why Tsunade tells me that, genetically, he's my son."

"I don't know much about genetics," Naruto told him, "but I can assure you I'm not your son. My father was a man named Shouhei."

"That's something we can agree on," Minato responded. "That leaves me with only one possible conclusion. That someone has been experimenting with my DNA in ways that I'm not pleased with in the least."

"I'm at a loss for whatever you're talking about with DNA and such," Naruto admitted, "but it is worth mentioning that from the first time I saw you I noticed a remarkable resemblance to my father. He was much older than you, but it was still unmistakable."

"Looking like someone and having the same DNA are two different things," Minato explained. "Barring identical twins, it's impossible for two different people to have the same DNA naturally."

Their discussion was interrupted when a red-haired woman stormed into the room, quite obviously furious about something. If he wasn't mistaken, that was Minato's wife, Kushina. This was most likely the case, as she immediately focused her rage on him.

"All these years I trusted you, and you'd been cheating on me?" she screamed at him. "Nor do you even have the guts to admit it to me after the fact."

"I've never cheated on you," Minato assured her while looking absolutely terrified of the woman. "Something else is going on here, and we're trying to figure out what."

"I have better things to do than listen to a squabble over parentage," the old woman announced. "I trust the rest of you can sort this matter out."

The woman then let herself out. Naruto was all but forgotten at the moment, as Kushina had quickly made herself the center of attention. Jiraiya had already approached the fuming woman, putting a hand on her shoulder as he attempted to placate her.

"Don't forget, Kushina, Naruto has to be at least twenty," Jiraiya pointed out. "Even if Minato isn't telling the truth, that would have been before you were so much as engaged."

"That is true," Kushina admitted, seeming to calm for a second as she turned to face the man. This proved to be little more than a ploy to get him to drop his guard as she quickly followed up with a knee to the man's groin, hitting so hard that every man in the room cringed at just the thought of the blow.

"But I haven't forgotten that Naruko is his sister!" she yelled at him. "Half-sister by the same father even."

Grabbing the still stiff as a statue Jiraiya by the neck she slammed him into the ground with all her strength. Holding him there with both hands, she proceeded to choke him.

"That means two different women," Kushina pointed out.

"Now, now Kushina," the Sandaime told her. "Despite his flaws, Jiraiya has an important role in this village. Besides, there actually is evidence that might support Minato not having fathered any children."

Reluctantly Kushina did let Jiraiya go, allowing the man to breath again.

"You can't mean to tell that story in front of Naruto?" the unknown old man asked in disbelief. "That's an S-class secret."

Now Naruto was fully interested in what they had to say. The mystery around the Yondaime's resemblance to his father had bothered him ever since he first saw the man. Could this secret of theirs explain what the cause was?

"Considering how much it involves him, he has a right to know," the Sandaime argued. "Especially after we dragged him here like this. Of course this will depend on him swearing himself to secrecy."

"I won't tell another soul about it," he vowed. "You have my word."

"We haven't yet established if we can trust that," the former Hokage declared. "But it will have to do for now. Minato, I'm sure you're aware that you were adopted, correct?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with this?" Minato asked.

"You see, we never told you, but it was Orochimaru who brought you to the village," he answered. "You were maybe two years old. He said he'd found you somewhere and thought you had potential. He was even the one who arranged for you to be adopted into the Namikaze Clan."

"You can't possibly be suggesting that I'm ..." Minato began, his words trailing off at the end.

"A clone based on Naruto's father?" the Sandaime finished for him, clearly distressed by his own words. "That is what I was thinking. Still, Orochimaru was only a teen at the time. If he truly was responsible, it would mean his experiments had begun much younger than I'd ever imagined. It seems the scope of my failure grows ever larger with time."

Naruto was still at a loss. This could be the explanation he wanted, but there were parts he was confused about. This Orochimaru could have made a copy of Naruto's father, but how would he have ever known he existed? How would he have known what he looked like? And how would he have managed to get this DNA thing they kept talking about to match?

"That still doesn't make any sense though," Minato argued, not accepting the story himself either. "I've never heard of any Shouhei. Why would Orochimaru clone someone that was a complete unknown?"

"It's possible Orochimaru knew something we didn't," the Sandaime answered. "Regardless, when Naruto claimed to have an older father who looked very much like you, it got me thinking. It's such an unbelievably weak lie that it makes me want to believe it."

"You all can't seriously expect me to buy this, can you?" Kushina interjected coldly. "You're going to a lot of trouble to try to protect Minato, but there's too much evidence against you. I'm suppose to believe that Minato just happened to find this girl who's genetically his daughter wandering around outside the village? That it was pure chance that he decided to train Naruko's team himself?"

"I know it seems unlikely, but you have to believe me that that's all it was," Minato pleaded.

"You know what, the worst part isn't even that you cheated on me and then lied about it," Kushina said forlornly. "I could bring myself to forgive you in time. No, the real tragedy is that you forced Naruko to live as an orphan all these years, just to protect your own hide. Even now, when you've been caught, you work up this ridiculous story planning to deny Naruko to the end?"

"I promise you, everything I've said is quite true," the Sandaime assured her, coming to his successor's defense.

"No, I understand," Kushina told him. "After even bringing his own son into the lie and setting up all this theater, I don't expect any of you to back down now. It really is quite clever. You provide just enough hope that Minato might have been faithful, that as long as he keeps insisting he was, I can't technically kill him."

"You know," Jiraiya said weakly from where he still lay prone on the floor, "if you did kill him, that would deprive Naruko of a father as well."

As if flipping a switch, his words immediately turned Kushina back from depression to rage.

"I don't want to hear another word from your worthless mouth!" Kushina screamed out, marching over to Jiraiya and laying into him with a series of ferocious kicks. "I blame you for all of this, you pervert! You corrupted my husband!You probably set the whole thing up too! Got him drunk and then picked out a girl and tossed the two of them together!"

Her kicks continued nonstop through her tirade, and she actually seemed to be aiming for vital points on the man's body. He was trying his best to protect himself with his arms, but he was meeting with limited success.

"You're a despicable piece of trash," she announced, "and I'm going to treat you just like what you are! I'm going to burn you alive and record your screams so I can listen to them whenever I need cheering up!"

Minato seemed to be waging an internal debate over whether to help when it may just turn her wrath to him. It was the Sandaime who finally pulled her away again, having to physically restrain her this time when words failed.

"I would like to remind you all that none of this gives us any reason to trust Naruto," the old man, whose name Naruto still didn't have, pointed out after Kushina had finally calmed down a little. "I suggest we keep him confined to a cell until we've been able to investigate him a bit more."

Naruto didn't like the sound of that at all.

"That won't be necessary, Homura," the old woman from before called out, reentering the room. "I've done a little digging myself, and I'm satisfied his story does check out for now. "I can explain in detail later, but I'd like to interrogate him a bit in private first. Still, unless that goes poorly for him, I expect we'll want to release him."

Just where would she have found evidence of that? He hadn't even told anyone where the temple was that he was claiming to have to worked at.

"We have no actual evidence of wrongdoing," Minato pointed out. "So I don't want to imprison him unless it's truly necessary. If you're satisfied it's not, Koharu, then that's good enough for me."

"Of course if we do release him, we should all go with the story that Minato really is their father," Homura proposed.

"Is that really necessary?" Minato complained.

"Would you prefer everyone knew you might have been artificially created by one of the most feared traitors in Konoha's history?" the Sandaime asked him.

"I'm thinking about it," Minato answered, before a glare from his wife made up his mind for him. "Fine, fine. I'll go along with the story, for Naruko's sake if nothing else."

"Good, now with that settled I want you to follow me, Naruto," Koharu told him. "I have some questions for you."

Following along obediently, Naruto was soon led into a private office. Koharu sat down and quietly stared at him for a while. Naruto was beginning to get a bit impatient about the whole thing.

"I suppose you have almost as many questions for me as I do for you," Koharu finally said, before pulling something out and handing it to him. "But I suspect this will answer many of them. I found it in your things."

Curiously Naruto took the item, seeing it was the old photo he'd taken what must have been sixty years ago. Wait, a photo he'd taken sixty years ago in this village was being handed to him by and old woman named Koharu who seemed to think it would answer his questions?

"You're Ko-chan?" Naruto asked, hardly believing the possibility.

"I prefer Koharu these days, but yes," she answered. "I lost my own copy of that decades ago. I admit I didn't recognize you at first, even though I was sure you looked familiar. So tell me, are you physically as young as you appear, or is it just genjutsu?"

"My body is still as young and fit as it's ever been," Naruto boasted, not seeing any reason to hide that when she already knew he was much older than he looked.

"That is quite impressive," she praised him. "I suppose if you can do that, perhaps your healing my injuries wasn't just a childhood delusion brought on by shock. I'd convinced myself that's all it was, but now I suspect it may have been real."

"Yeah, you were in pretty bad shape when I found you," Naruto confirmed. "So tell me, why did you make up that story back there instead of just telling them what you knew?"

"Partially because I do owe you my life," Koharu told him, "but I admit the larger part was a more selfish motive. There's a lot of politics involved in running a village. If I'm the only one who knows what you're truly capable of, it opens up certain possibilities. Of course, that all depends on whether even I can trust you. So tell me, what are you doing in the village?"

"I was mostly hoping to learn a few things," Naruto explained. "I can work my chakra in ways that would amaze you, but I admit my knowledge of topics such as ninjutsu is rather limited. I was hoping to eventually get a bit of an exchange going. Some of what I know for some of what you know."

"Interesting," Koharu answered. "I want you to know that my first loyalty is to the village. Whether you saved my life or not, I will not just give away Konoha's secrets to a man I know very little about. Still, there's no reason we can't have a mutually beneficial relationship. If you do the occasional favor for me, I'm sure I can help you somewhat with your own goals."

"That's good to hear," Naruto said gratefully.

"Now, if I might ask," Koharu began. "Why all the deception in the first place? If you revealed you abilities right from the start, we still might have been able to work something out. Also, what exactly is your relationship to Naruko? Is she really the Yondaime's daughter? Is she yours? Is she a random girl who looks like you that you simply made use of for your purposes?"

"I'm just a cautious and private person, I guess," Naruto answered. "As for Naruko, why don't you just do more of that DNA stuff to find out?"

"Tsunade was reluctant to do so even for you," Koharu explained. "She would be loathe to test a ninja of Konoha against her will, and even asking would look suspicious."

"That's good to hear," Naruto said cheerfully. "It means I'll be able to keep at least one secret from you. If you don't fully trust me, I don't see why I should feel any different about you."

"Fair enough," she answered, not looking pleased despite her words. "She's of no great concern anyway. Now, we should probably make sure we have our stories straight so neither of us is caught in a lie."

So Naruto spent a few hours being drilled by Koharu to ensure he could answer whatever questions might come up. She was far more thorough than Naruto had been with his own back-story, catching a number of flaws so small he wouldn't even have worried over them. It really was hard to think of this intense wrinkled old woman as the same little girl he'd met all those years ago.

Still, it was just one of those things you had to deal with when you lived for centuries, even if it never got easy.

* * *

When Naruto finally arrived home, most of the afternoon had already gone by. He was thinking of making dinner, but he sensed someone already inside. Entering the building, he saw one of Ino's teammates, Shikamaru if he remembered correctly, sitting alone at a table.

"I never would have imagined you were over two hundred years old," he called out as soon as he saw Naruto. "Honestly, you don't look a day over a hundred and fifty."

Naruto eyed the kid warily. Just when he thought he might be able to get out of this without any significant issues, it seemed someone else was on to him. Still, he was just a kid. Naruto might be able to convince him he was mistaken.

"You think I'm how old?" Naruto asked. "That's quite a claim to make if you're serious."

"Deny it if you want, but have a look at this first," Shikamaru told him, pulling out a folded up piece of paper. Unfolding it, he found one of his own menus.

"What is this supposed to mean?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"That menu is handwritten," Shikamaru pointed out. "Which is odd, because it matches the writing in that book you lent me exactly."

So that was how he caught on. Naruto should have been more careful, but it was still quite clever of him to catch on to that.

"So your first thought is that I'm actually hundreds of years old?" Naruto quipped. "You skipped right past the possibilities that the book was merely a copy I wrote or that I liked the style of writing in the book and decided to use it for my menus?"

"It's definitely not a copy," Shikamaru told him. "The book is far too old. I had considered that you just found an old book with blank pages and wrote in it, as unlikely as that seems. I quickly threw away that idea when I noticed that the writing never avoided any of the tears or other damaged areas of the pages."

Naruto kept his silence, not wanting to give anything away. It was possible that Shikamaru wasn't as confident as he sounded and was hoping Naruto would slip up if he pressed him.

"Of course you could have still copied the style for the menus like you said," Shikamaru conceded. "You're very skilled at forgery if you did, but that does seem much more likely than my own claim. It was another piece of evidence that actually convinced me. I saw that old photo of you before Koharu took it."

"It was from an antique camera," Naruto responded, glad now that Koharu had made them get their stories straight.

"That would be possible, but I did a little research," Shikamaru informed him. "I managed to find an old photo of Koharu from when she first became a genin. She was a bit older then, but the resemblance was uncanny. Now are you ready to drop the act, or should I go on."

"Fine," Naruto said. "I admit I did write the book. So tell me, why did you confront me like this?"

"Because I don't plan to tell anyone else about this," Shikamaru answered.

Maybe there was hope yet.

"Is this extortion then?"

"Nothing so crude as that," Shikamaru assured him. "I just feel that I know a little about you from looking through that dry old tome. You're obviously highly skilled, yet virtually nothing in there would be of much use in a fight. It would have been easy enough to develop offensive techniques, but you apparently focused on other subjects. That strikes me as something the scholarly type would do rather than your typical power hungry madman who might be a threat to village."

"I'm glad you think so," Naruto told him. "And I assure you, I don't mean Konoha or anyone living here any harm."

"Good," Shikamaru declared. "Because if I did tell, it could bring problems of its own. The news that someone had discovered the secret of eternal youth would cause all sorts of troublesome things to happen. To start with, the people most determined to learn such things are often those you least want to know them. There are certain people you wouldn't like the idea of knowing they'd never grow old and die."

"It's not exactly something I could teach just anyone in the first place," Naruto admitted. "It's really more of a bloodline."

"You might have trouble convincing people of that," he posited. "Still, I should at least tell the Hokage about this. I would have if it weren't for the issue of your relationship to him."

"You heard about the DNA thing, then?" Naruto asked.

"Yes," he confirmed. "Now the thing is, those tests are great for determining two people are parent and child, but they're much less effective at figuring out which is which. Normally that isn't an issue that a quick glance at the two parties couldn't solve. Anyway, a little search showed that the Yondaime was adopted into his clan with no records as to who his parents were."

So he was convinced that Naruto was Minato's father? If it was really going to keep him quiet, Naruto could play along with that.

"Ah, I see," Naruto said. "I don't have much knowledge of the process, but I was curious as to why it said I was his son when I knew I wasn't."

"I know it must be hard to deal with your children growing old and dying before your eyes," Shikamaru continued, "but you're here anyway. I think Naruko and the Hokage have a right to know. I just thought I'd do you the courtesy of letting you be the one to tell them."

So, he was convinced Naruto was Naruko's father as well? All the more amusing a misconception, even if in some sense, he could actually be considered as such.

"I appreciate that," Naruto told him, "but despite your opinions on the matter, I'm not exactly eager to tell them. Could you at least give me some time to think it over?"

"Fine," Shikamaru agreed. "This has already been far too troublesome. I don't feel like arguing with you over this right now. Just remember that it's not likely to get any easier if you wait."

Naruto was glad to see another crisis averted when he left. Still the whole situation had suddenly become far to complicated. It was almost certain the entire deception would come crashing down eventually. Hopefully, he could get what he came for before then. Either way, watching the resulting fallout could prove to be fun.

* * *

"Just where is Naruko?" Sakura cried out in frustration. "I'm actually beginning to get a little worried. At this rate, she's going to be the last person to find out that she's the Hokage's daughter."

"Maybe she already found out and she just wants some time alone to think things through," Hinata suggested.

"My wager is that she just ditched us and went into hiding because she was tired of greeting well-wishers," Ino exclaimed. "Anyway, you can be sure she'll get a piece of my mind when we do find her."

* * *

Naruko let out a sigh of contentment. That hot bath had felt so good that she'd relaxed in until after sunset. It was nice to just have a peaceful afternoon with no worries and nothing happening. She should do this more often.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

I'm afraid you'll have to wait until another chapter to find out more about Itachi and the modern day Akatsuki. Still I hope there was enough going on in this one to keep you all entertained. Things are starting to get moving and this was my favorite chapter to write so far in The Conduit.

I just hope people weren't confused too badly by my jumping around to so many points of view covering the same time frame. I figured it would be easy enough to piece together and make sense of it, and I apologize if I was wrong on that.

Now that I've got Naruto more involved in the happenings of Konoha, you should find that, like this one, he gets his fair share of time each chapter. It was a bit of an unintended consequence that Naruko was getting so much even after her introductory chapter.

She just had all these connections and with people and Naruto had very few. I wasn't about to rush Naruto's part of the story out, so Naruko got the lions share last chapter. That said, I'm not pushing Naruko out of the way either. She's easily the second most important character in the story right now, and will still have a good portion of the narrative devoted to her. Just not as much as chapters 5 or 6.


	8. New Directions

"I actually don't blame you for this," Naruko told Naruto. "I'd really like to, but I don't think I can."

Naruko had apparently been out of the loop through the entire day's events and only found out what had happened when she'd been ambushed by some of her friends. After getting away from them, she'd come straight to Naruto where he'd filled her in on the parts the other genin were unaware of.

"I'm surprised you're taking this so well," he told her. "At the very least I'll admit I should have been more careful with my handwriting."

"I think that's more my fault than yours," she informed him. "I'm the one who's actually been trained in identifying people by handwriting, spotting forgeries, and the like. I also should have remembered how little I used to know on such topics. I even saw your menu, so if anyone should have seen this coming, it's me."

"Speaking of you, won't people notice our writing is awfully similar?" Naruto queried.

"I've had training, remember?" Naruko reminded him. "When I first started I had to pretend to just be learning to write. By the time writing in a normal script wouldn't be suspicious, I knew enough to come up with a different style. Here, have a look."

He watched as she grabbed a pen and a slip of paper and began to smoothly write in a script Naruto had to admit looked nothing like his own.

"I'll rewrite all your menus for you," Naruko continued. "It'll be easy enough to tell people I'm redesigning them to help your business. Now, hopefully there won't be anyone else who saw both your menu and the book. I recommend you work on your own new style and avoid writing anything until it looks natural."

"Fair enough," Naruto agreed. "Now I should also remind you that I'm not really supposed to be telling anyone the details of that meeting. So don't let anything about Orochimaru slip out."

Technically, he was keeping his vow to not tell another soul, as Naruko didn't have one. Still, he doubted his little loophole would be appreciated.

"I think I can manage that," Naruko told him. "The only thing I'm confused about is why they didn't grill you on Itachi's visit. It seems like that would have been far more suspicious than anything they were asking you about."

"I believe that has to do with the two men who have been keeping surveillance on me ever since I was released," Naruto informed her, watching her eyes widen in fear. "They probably hope Itachi will make another appearance and don't want to put me on guard in case I am working with him."

"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure they're not listening in," Naruto assured her, seeing how worried she still was. "I'd be able to tell if they were using a jutsu to listen in on us. Nor do I sense anything out of place that might indicate a more modern spying method. Besides, we've already said enough incriminating tidbits that I'm sure we'd have company by now if I'd missed something."

"I still wish you'd let me know _before_ we'd said anything incriminating," Naruko griped. "Still, I know how hard it would be to sneak something into here without you being aware of it. This place practically glows with all the seals you've installed in it."

"Anyway, speaking of knowing everything that goes on around here," Naruto began as his senses were picking something up, "one of your more annoying friends is on his way back here."

"His way?" Naruko asked in confusion shortly before Sasuke burst through the doors for second time that day. Actually the third time he corrected himself. Naruto had detected a brief intrusion by the boy while he'd still been detained.

"Back to cause more trouble for me?" Naruto asked, letting a hint of his annoyance into his voice. "Or are you just going to demand answers I don't have about your brother?"

"No, this time I'm here to find out what you know about Orochimaru," Sasuke answered.

"What does Orochimaru have to do with anything?" Naruko asked, doing an impressive bit of acting.

Maybe Naruko would get an excuse for knowing about him sooner than she'd realized. Still, best to put on a show of trying to keep their secret. Besides, he had a feeling it wouldn't deter Sasuke.

"I'm not sure what you do know," he responded, "but the Hokage wants information about Orochimaru kept secret. I suggest you don't discuss it any further in front of Naruko."

"Yes, I heard about the cover story," Sasuke replied, "but I believe Naruko, at least, deserves to know the truth. That you're an attempt to enhance the Yondaime's blood with Uchiha genes. Naruko may very well be a continuation of the same experiment."

Naruto was a bit taken aback by Sasuke's claim. Where exactly had he gotten that idea into his head? Did it have something to do with that DNA stuff as well? Naruto was really going to have to look into how that worked in the near future.

"If you want any answers, bring it up with Hokage," Naruto told him forcefully. "I'm sworn to secrecy and I really have no intention of being dragged away twice in one day. So if you're quite finished, please leave."

"Fine, I'll go, but I will continue to look into this." Sasuke vowed before turning to address Naruko. "I suggest you do the same if you want to know the truth of your origins."

With that, Sasuke left the two of them alone.

"In case you didn't notice, he's _not _my friend," Naruko said bitterly as soon as he'd gone.

"I doubt anyone is that boy's friend," Naruto quipped. "Not exactly the most charming kid in Konoha is he?"

"Actually, he's sickeningly popular," Naruko griped. "Now if we're done discussing this, I'm heading home. I've got a lot of fallout from this I'm going to have to deal with."

Naruto had a few things of his own to work out. Most of the time it wouldn't matter if people trailed him wherever he went, but he was certain there would be times he didn't want anyone spying on him. Naruto was going to have to find a way to leave undetected, and he already had a few idea on that front.

* * *

Naruko found her team near the time they would usually stop for the day. Minato was busy training Hinata and Kiba, but they all came to a halt when they saw her arrive.

"So, Minato-sensei is your old man, huh?" Kiba exclaimed cheerfully. "I bet that came as a shock."

Minato just stood their fidgeting, apparently still not certain how to deal with her.

"Aren't you supposed to still be resting?" Hinata asked her. If she didn't know Hinata better, she'd almost swear there was a hint of accusation in her tone. Ino and Sakura had probably roped her into making sure she behaved.

"I just came from the hospital," Naruko answered. "They've cleared me to return to duty. They really can work wonders. Anyway, I came here because I was hoping I could talk with Minato-sensei for a bit."

"Of course," Minato told her, finally speaking up. "We were just about to finish up. Oh, and Kiba, don't forget that you and your accomplices have to report in for some extra D rank missions. We've saved you some particularly unpleasant ones."

"Do I have to?" Kiba complained, Akamaru whining as well next to him.

"You should just feel lucky Naruto is so forgiving," Minato told him. "If he decided to press the issue, you could have been in for a lot worse after breaking into his place."

"Yeah, yeah," Kiba said dismissively as he walked off. Seeing him go, Hinata approached Naruko.

"I hope everything goes well for you with your father," she said in a whisper so that Minato wouldn't overhear before leaving the two of them alone. With Minato not looking like he was going to say anything anytime soon, Naruko decided to get things moving.

"Sasuke was saying something about my brother and I being experiments of Orochimaru's," Naruko told him. "Naruto refused to say anything else on the subject and I was hoping you could explain. I really hate being left in the dark on something that affects me as much as this does."

"Sasuke is jumping to conclusions without having all the information," Minato responded, looking relieved the conversation had taken this turn. "We have no reason to believe Orochimaru had anything to do with either of you. The reason Naruto wouldn't say anything is because there is a secret we forbade him from telling. Still, I suppose you do have a right to know."

Naruko was pleased with how easy it was to get him to explain this. Now she wouldn't have to feign ignorance of the subject.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, after you've been living as an orphan for so long," Minato continued, "but despite the official story, I'm not actually your father. We just believe it was me and not you and your brother who might have less than completely natural origins."

"I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but that's actually a bit of a relief," Naruko declared. "I wasn't quite sure how to deal with the thought of you as my father, and I was afraid it would make things a bit awkward."

"So you believe me?" Minato asked hopefully.

"Yeah, is there a reason I shouldn't?" Naruko asked curiously.

"Not at all," Minato assured her. "I swear that everything I told you is true. It's just that, there are certain people who don't believe I'm being entirely honest in that regard."

"And by certain people he means me," Kushina interjected sharply, having snuck up on the pair at some point in their conversation. "Now if you're done trying to convince the poor girl she's still an orphan, I'd like to have my own talk with her."

"Of course," Minato said quickly, vanishing almost as soon as the words had left his mouth.

If Naruto had known about how Kushina was taking yesterday's events, he had neglected to tell her. It was pretty clear exactly what Kushina thought had happened if she didn't believe Minato, and Naruko felt guilty that their little subterfuge was causing strife between the two of them.

"I'm sorry if I seemed a bit harsh there," Kushina told her warmly. "I want to assure you that I don't blame you for anything Minato did. In fact, I was hoping you might want to move in with us. It's a much nicer place than your apartment, and Minato owes you that much at least."

"That's kind of you to offer," Naruko told her, doing her best to hide how unappealing she found giving up so much of her privacy, "but I'm really kind of used to living on my own. Besides, even if you don't blame me, I'd feel guilty every time I saw the rift between you and Minato-sensei."

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that," Kushina assured her. "I know I can get a bit angry at times, but it burns itself out quickly. Even for something as big as this, I'm not one stay mad forever. Besides, I really do love him, and it's been thirteen years or so since he would have been unfaithful. Honestly, I've already mostly forgiven him."

"No offense, but it didn't exactly look that way to me," Naruko pointed out in confusion.

"I suppose not," Kushina said with a laugh. "At this point, I'm just taking advantage of the situation. Minato is doing everything he can to win his way back into my good graces. He's practically waiting on me hand and foot, and I want to milk that for a bit. He deserves that much at least, and I want to leave him terrified of the thought of ever betraying me again. The last thing I need is for him to be convinced I'll just forgive him of anything he does at the drop of a hat."

"Well, I'm glad to hear you plan to work things out," Naruko told her honestly.

"As long as he stays away from Jiraiya," Kushina agreed. "Although if any blond toddlers with a remarkable resemblance to him show up, all bets are off."

The dangerous edge her voice took at the end made Naruko hope for Minato's sake that he really had been faithful to his wife.

* * *

Naruto looked at the building in front of him with a bit of apprehension. He hadn't had to wait long for Koharu to come up with a task for him, but it wasn't one he was entirely enthusiastic about. Simply put, he was going to be teaching a number of their higher ranked ninja some of the special chakra techniques he knew.

Koharu wanted to give their elite forces every edge they could, and even Naruto had a few tricks that he was fairly certain he was the only person who knew them. Still, Naruto wasn't a ninja, and he wasn't quite certain how to go about training one. He'd bounced some ideas off of Koharu, and the two of them had worked out a basic curriculum, but he still was a bit uncertain.

Anyway, before walking in, he glanced through the the small folder Koharu had given him one last time. It contained names and photos of everyone who would be attending the class, and Naruto wanted to make sure he could match names to faces. Asuma, Shibi, Guy, Choza, Shikaku, Kakashi, Inoichi, Kurenai, and Anko were supposed to be there today.

He'd put off entering as long as possible, but he'd be late for his own class if he didn't go now. Entering, he found most of the ninja on his list already seated around the room. In fact, running a quick checklist in his head, Hatake Kakashi was the only person missing. Judging by the curious looks he was receiving, however, they hadn't been briefed on just who would be teaching this class.

"Who exactly are you supposed to be?" Anko asked him suspiciously, confirming his recent assessment.

"My name is Naruto," he replied, "and I'm actually going to be leading this little training session."

"Aren't you a bit young for that?" Asuma asked, lighting up a cigarette as he did.

"Don't say that!" Guy cried out enthusiastically. "I for one am inspired by his youthful energy!"

"Be that as it may," Naruto said a bit unsure of how to react to the outburst, "the question is valid. I just have a very specialized field of expertise, and Koharu felt it would be useful to share a couple of the things I know. More specifically, I'm going to start with an alternative way to deal with genjutsu."

He could see that his statement had caught the interest of some of them, although he was still picking up a lot of skepticism. He should get a demonstration going as soon as possible to dispel some of that.

"If I could have a volunteer that's skilled with genjutsu, I can show you what I mean," Naruto told them.

All eyes on the room seemed to focus on Kurenai at that request. Seeing that she was the center of attention the woman let out a sigh and stood up.

"Great," he told her. "Now if you could put me under some form of genjutsu, particularly one where my reaction would be obvious, I'd appreciate it."

She considered this for a moment before going through some hand signals. Naruto could sense a string of chakra reaching out from the woman and attempting to penetrate into his own chakra system, but instead, it just bounced off the edge of it to no effect. Confused, Kurenai tried again but with no more success.

"It's not working," she announced in frustration.

"As I'm sure you all know," he lectured to the room, "genjutsu works by penetrating an opponents chakra system and influencing it in specific ways to fool the target's senses. When one knows they're under a genjutsu, the normal response is to flare one's chakra in an attempt to disrupt whatever the intruding source is doing."

"That's not what happened though," Kurenai pointed out. "My jutsu couldn't get into your chakra system at all. It was like there was some sort of barrier."

"The reason it did that is because I was using my own chakra to reinforce and strengthen it's natural flow," Naruto informed them. "In essence, I was putting myself under a powerful genjutsu that affected all my senses, only the genjutsu caused me to experience exactly what I would have been experiencing anyway."

"That's an incredible technique!" Guy declared loudly. "Alright, I'm going to try."

Before Naruto could even warn him, his chakra flared. The man went stiff as a board for a moment before flailing his arms about and tipping over to the floor.

"What's wrong with him?" Shizune asked as she approached the fallen jonin.

"He won't be able to see or hear you until he releases the technique," Naruto warned them. "He didn't wait for me to explain, but if you just hold your chakra in one static state you'll be causing your senses to perceive exactly what they were at that moment. Your chakra flows are constantly shifting as you experience things, and you need to adjust your own technique to match them."

"You need such fine control over your entire body?" Choza asked dubiously.

"It's not at all easy," Naruto confirmed. "Which is why I'm explaining it to the best the village has to offer instead of a bunch of fresh genin. The technique isn't without flaws either. It's useless if you're trying to hide your presence."

"If someone catches you in hiding without your realizing it your usually dead whether you're immune to genjutsu or not," Kurenai interjected.

"Also, you're trying to defend your whole body," Naruto pointed out. "An attacker can easily focus their genjutsu on a single point and overwhelm the technique."

"Genjutsu is about subtlety," Kurenai complained. "Anyone would be able to sense that happening, and if you know you're under a genjutsu, it's a relatively simple matter to dispel it with more conventional means."

Naruto gave the woman a look that made clear his annoyance at this second interruption.

"I'm sorry," Kurenai apologized, looking genuinely repentant. "It's just that my entirely style focuses around genjutsu. It's no surprise that such a strong counter to it would leave me a little bitter."

"Don't worry about it," Naruto told her graciously. "I think you may be overestimated how much of an impact this will have. There aren't many who will be able to master it, and as hard as it is, it's nothing compared to keeping it up when using jutsu of your own. So if nothing else, they'll be vulnerable when using abilities of their own."

She seemed somewhat mollified by his statement. So he directed his attention back to Guy, who was still flopping around on the floor.

"Does anyone know why he hasn't released that yet?" Naruto queried. He would have expected the man to figure out something was wrong pretty quickly.

"He can be quite stubborn," Asuma told him. "He's probably determined not to release it until he figures out how to get it working right. He could be at this for hours."

"Well, then," Naruto said, doing his best to put the strange man out of his mind. "I'd like the rest of you to start practicing as well. Hopefully some of you will do a little better than him."

All of Naruto's worries over this class faded once the teaching really got underway. He'd had similar sessions countless times in temples all over the world. As such, he quickly fell into familiar routine as he made his way from person to person correcting techniques and offering advice. The rhythm he found himself in had a rather significant downside, however, as he discovered when he was helping out Anko.

"This is just stupid," she complained. "Even if I can get this down, I'd be focusing all my attention on maintaining it. Not exactly worth the benefit."

"With enough practice almost anything can become second nature," he encouraged her. "Still, you may want to try starting a little smaller. If you focus on the chakra lines that deal with your sight and hearing you can still greatly reduce the impact of most genjutsu. And mastering that form would be much easier."

"And which ones are those?" she asked.

"Well, the ones for your ears flow along here," he told her, tracing his finger from her ear down the back of her neck. "The chakra flows to your eyes along this line."

This time his traced down her face and along the front of her neck, continuing down until her hand snapped up and clenched around his wrist.

"You're getting awfully touchy for a guy I just met," she said icily, drawing Naruto's attention to just where his finger had been approaching. Immediately Naruto jerked back as she released her hold, embarrassed by what he had just done.

"I'm sorry, my training has been almost exclusively with old men," Naruto told her honestly. "Tracing chakra lines has never been an issue for me before."

"Whether you're telling the truth or not, touch me like that again without my permission, and you'll lose the hand that did it," she threatened him.

"Don't worry, it won't happen again," he assured her.

Nothing terribly exciting happened the rest of the lesson. No one had managed to master the technique in the short time they had before people started filing out, but a few showed good progress. For how much she professed to hate it, Kurenai was the one who came the closest to getting it. All but one person had left, and Naruto was just trying to decide what to do with said straggler, when Kakashi finally decided to make an appearance.

"Sorry I'm late," he announced. "My clock broke and I had to go buy a new one, but it turns out the time on it was set wrong and I didn't realize it until a few minutes ago."

"Well, the class is over," he informed the man, as he tried to figure out if he was being serious about the excuse.

"Ah well, I guess I'll be going then," he told Naruto.

"Actually, I don't suppose you can help me figure out what to do with this guy?" Naruto asked, pointing down at the twitching Guy.

"I probably don't want to know, but what happened to him?" Kakashi asked.

"He's trapped in his own genjutsu and refuses to release it," Naruto apprised him.

"Ah, yeah, he can be a bit hard to deal with at times," Kakashi exclaimed, "but I believe I can see that he's taken care of."

"Thanks, I'll leave it you then," Naruto told him, leaving the building and heading back to his current home.

That wasn't really so bad. He'd have to see what sort of payment he could wring from Koharu for it, but if this was all she wanted from him, he wouldn't mind doing it from time to time.

* * *

Guy believed he'd finally figured out what he needed to do to get this to work. He'd been very disappointed when he'd found out he hadn't really discovered a way to freeze time, but he was still looking forward to mastering this technique.

It seemed obvious now that holding his chakra in one state would cause everything to freeze like this. He'd confirmed that when he tried to shift it and instead of the unchanging image of the room he was treated to a random assortment of colors across his vision.

He'd spent a long time pondering how to tell the proper way to let his chakra flow, and only just realized that since he was putting so much power into holding his flows in place, he couldn't even sense what they were trying to do on their own. When he eased down on the power, he was able to feel the route his chakra was trying to take. Attempting to let the flow guide his chakra he, unfortunately, lost control of the entire thing.

Suddenly his body was flooded by sensations again and he went to work trying to process what was going on. He noticed it was now night and he seemed to be buried up to his neck in something. His nose quickly gave him a hint as to just what it was. Yes, he currently swimming in garbage. Breaking free, he did his best to wipe the rotting food and other disgusting filth off him. This may have been a very youthful prank, but it was not in good taste at all.

"Whoever did this to me, I will find you!" he called out loudly, striking a pose atop the pile.

This caused the ground he was standing on to give way beneath him as he sank back up to his waist. Okay, maybe he'd get of the here completely first and vow vengeance later.

* * *

Naruko finally had the perfect opportunity to get back at Naruto for just showing up in the village without consulting her. She'd heard from Ino, who had heard from her father, about Naruto's little mishap with a kunoichi named Anko. Now she was sitting down to write a letter from 'Naruto' to Anko about the incident.

She kept it fairly simple. An apology for his behavior followed by an admission that it had been deliberate because he'd been captivated by her beauty and just couldn't resist. Then a few bits about hoping to see her at any future training sessions and she was done.

Naruko did pause for a bit after completing it to consider if she should really go through with this. She didn't know much about this Anko or how she was likely to react. Still, from what she'd heard, Naruto hadn't done anything that could get him in trouble with the village. Most likely Anko and whoever she told would simply consider Naruto a pervert.

So the kunoichi of the village would probably make life a bit uncomfortable for him. If things got too out of hand, Naruko could always admit it had just been a prank. Anyway, what was the worst that could happen?

* * *

Anko had reacted quickly to the contents of the letter she'd just received. It hadn't been terribly hard to find out where to locate Naruto, and she'd even heard a rumor going around that he was son of their very own Yondaime. That was certainly an interesting thought, and she supposed he did have the looks for it.

Anyway, bursting through the door, she spotted her prey and immediately flung a kunai in his direction, aiming to have it just slice along the edge of his right cheek, barely more than a scratch. However, despite having his back turned, he leaned his head slightly the left, letting it pass harmlessly by and bury itself in the wall. That annoyed Anko a bit even if she did find it intriguing that he'd sensed it.

"I admit it took a lot of guts to try something like that with me, and even more to admit it like this," she said, holding up the letter.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," Naruto informed her. "I already told you it was an accident."

Getting scared back into denying it by a little kunai? She may have overestimated his courage. Then again, he didn't exactly look terrified. I bit uncomfortable yes, but Anko had seen fear in people's eyes when they looked at her so often that she could almost always recognize it. And she supposed there were enough idiots in the village who would be all too happy to mess with her. Either way, she was going to have a little fun with this guy.

"No need to deny it," Anko told him a bit seductively, I actually like bold men.

"You could have fooled me," he responded, looking at the kunai.

"I just thought a facial scar would make you look more distinguished," she replied. "Believe me, if I were mad at you there are much more unpleasant places I would aim."

"Well, I'll try not to make you mad then," he deadpanned.

"You can start by treating me to dinner," she told him. "This is a restaurant, right?"

"Not anymore," he replied. "Since it looks like I'll be getting more work from the village, I'm shutting down the business permanently. I wouldn't be able to keep regular hours anyway."

"That won't get you out of this," she insisted. "You owe me this much at least as an apology, whether you wrote the letter or not. So why don't you go back there and whip me up some dango."

"You know those aren't on the menu, right?" Naruto asked her, but she gave him a glare and he simply sighed and walked back to the kitchen area. "One order of dango coming right up."

As he went to work Anko spent the time trying to decide what do about Naruto. She had two options. First, she could continue to mess with him and do her best to make him as uncomfortable as possible. Second, she could do that but also see if he had any potential in a relationship.

In favor of the second option, he did have decent looks, seemed to have some skill, and he might be related to the Hokage. Dating Minato's son would really drive certain people who still favored driving her from the village crazy. On the other hand, his aspirations seemed to be somewhat limited. Running a restaurant? Doing some part time teaching? That was far too dull for her tastes. Yeah, she'd probably just stick to making him miserable.

While she was lost in thought, Naruto finished his preparations and brought over several sticks of her favorite treat as well as some tea he poured into her cup. Not wasting any time, she popped the first one into her mouth, eyes quickly widening when the flavor hit her. These dango were good. No, not just good, they had to be the best dango she'd ever tasted.

"Not bad," she told him. "Service could use some work, but at least the food is edible."

Okay, she now had a third option for dealing with the man. He could be a sucker she hit up for free food. Yes, she had a feeling she'd be eating here a lot in the future.

* * *

"I know I've been hinting a lot about a big plan for you," Minato told his assembled team. "I think it's about time I let you in on what that is. Next week marks the beginning of the Chunin Exams, which will take place in Konoha. I'm nominating you three to take part."

"Nice!" Kiba called out enthusiastically.

"Are you sure we're ready for that?" Hinata asked. "We only just became genin."

"Don't worry about that," Minato told them. "I'll work you hard this next week to get you as prepared as possible. Besides, you don't need to pass on your first attempt. It will be a good experience regardless. That said, I do expect you to beat Sarutobi's team. We have something of a wager going."

"Some new jutsu would certainly help our chances," Naruko pointed out eagerly.

"I'll find something for you to work on," Minato promised her. "Still, the most important thing if you want to do well is mastering the basics and improving your teamwork. You'll need to work together if you have any hopes of passing."

"Don't worry, sensei," Kiba assured him. "We'll not only put Sasuke in his place, we're going to pass this test on our first try."

"Well, I look forward to seeing that," Minato told them. "You have the potential to make good on that boast. Now let's get to work so you can realize that potential."

* * *

Orochimaru sat at the table surrounded my the leaders of the Uchiha Clan as he awaited their reply to his proposal.

"You expect us to betray our own village?" Uchiha Yashiro asked him.

"Don't feign loyalty for my sake," Orochimaru replied. "I know very well you would have attempted your own coup if Itachi hadn't gotten in your way. Think how much more likely your success will be with the support of Suna and Oto."

"Whatever you think you may know about our plans, we don't want Konoha conquered," Yashiro fired back. "You wouldn't leave enough of the village standing for it to be of any use to us."

"You overstate our malice," he assured them. "The number of people I want dead are quite few. Of course, I want access to all of Konoha's forbidden jutsu. Beyond that I don't much care what happens to the village. Suna will be a bit harder to appease I admit. They'll loot the place of valuables and kill off most of Konoha's top ninja."

"You're not exactly making a convincing case," Yashiro declared.

"Then consider this," Orochimaru offered. "The death of Konoha's elite not only benefits you, it might be necessary for you to actually hold the village after it's left in your control. And yes, Konoha will be greatly damaged by the war, but would you rather rule a weakened Konoha or continue serving a strong one?"

With the looks that passed between the men, Orochimaru knew he had them, even if they weren't yet aware of that fact themselves.

"We will think on the matter," Yashiro finally replied.

"I'll be in touch," he replied with a smile. Yes, everything was going according to plan.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

I know this chapter is a bit slow compared to the last one. I'm working on building things back up to the next bit of excitement. Oh, and don't worry about getting another chapter devoted entirely to Naruko for the exams. I won't spoil any details, but Naruto will still have a good share of the narrative.

Oh, and Hurricane Irene delayed this chapter a week and you'll probably be waiting at least a couple of weeks for the next update as well. I'm on vacation and have plans starting tomorrow. So I won't get my usual weekend writing in. Still, I'll try not to keep you waiting too long.


	9. A Brewing Storm

Naruto was starting to get a little impatient with Koharu. Sure he'd only done two classes so far, but for his payment he'd received little beyond assurances that she'd teach him a few things once he'd proven himself a bit more to the village. Well, that and a fairly generous monetary payment, but Naruto cared little about the financial side of things.

Still, he didn't mind teaching the classes, and the upcoming Chunin Exams offered him an opportunity to collect on the payment he felt he was owed. From what Naruto had heard, he was sure there would be all sorts of jutsu thrown around during the exam. So if he observed secretly, he'd have any number of opportunities to pick things up.

Naruto was letting his mind wander, imagining all the new techniques he might soon see when he something familiar pulled at the edge of his senses. Stretching them out to investigate further, he found he was almost drawn to the target he searching for, quickly recognizing it as the Ichibi. Naruto had never really sought out the Ichibi in recent times, as it had been the one Biju whose location was almost common knowledge. Suna was supposed to have him safely sealed.

For his part, Naruto was interested to find out what the Ichibi was doing in Konoha. So the first thing he needed to do was lose the ninja watching outside the building. Lucky for him, he'd recently solved that little problem. Moving over to a corner in the back of the room he knelt down and set his hand on a large tile, adjusting his chakra so his hand would stick to it. Pulling it back, the tile easily came away, revealing the tunnel he'd just finished.

Dropping down and replacing the tile above him, Naruto walked confidently, despite the total darkness, completing the short trek and reaching the other end. A quick scan with his senses showed no one was in the area he would come up. So pressing up on the ceiling of the tunnel, he opened the entrance into the small dead end alleyway he'd created it in.

Covering his exit, he walked out of the alley toward the Ichibi, without anyone the wiser. It didn't take Naruto long to locate the Ichibi's vessel. The red-haired boy was one of a group of three young Suna ninja walking casually through Konoha. Most likely they were here for the Chunin Exams. Naruto thought he'd been doing a pretty good job of hiding himself in the tree from which he was observing the group, so he was surprised when the young boy turned around to look directly at him.

Nor did he stop at simply looking. Sand began to flow from the large gourd on the boy's back and advanced toward Naruto. As slow as the attack was to him, he was still forced to dodge out of the way to avoid being surrounded by the sand, which revealed his presence to the boy's two companions.

"What are you doing, Gaara?" the lone female of the group asked in surprise.

"I'm going to kill that man," the boy answered, far too calmly for what he was saying.

"Why?" the older boy, asked. "Who is he? What has he done to you?"

"I have no idea who he is," Gaara answered. "I've never met him before in my life. I just feel I have to kill him."

Naruto was beginning to see how it was Gaara had sensed him. It seemed the Ichibi wasn't sealed as tightly as he could be. He'd been sensed through the Ichibi via their connection, the same way Naruto had found Gaara.

"If you don't even know who he is than there's no harm in letting him go, is there?" asked the boy, whose makeup covered face Naruto found very odd. "We don't want to make a scene."

Meanwhile Naruto was once again blocking off his connection to the Biju as firmly as he could. Not needing to locate Gaara anymore he didn't like the idea of the boy being able to sense him. This also appeared to serve to calm him down.

"Very well," Gaara finally answered, sounding as if he was reluctant to agree. "I won't kill him today."

The girl then ran up to where Naruto was standing, seeking to run damage control for Gaara's actions. "I don't know what got into my brother, but there wasn't any harm done," she told him soothingly. "So there's no need to report this, is there? We were really looking forward to Chunin Exams and don't want to get ourselves disqualified."

"Actually, I'd prefer not to make a big deal out of this myself," Naruto assured her. "So if you'll keep quiet about this, I will as well."

"Thank you," she told him gratefully, before eying the damaged tree nervously and looking around to see if anyone else had witnessed the scene. Fortunately for Naruto as well as her, the street was otherwise deserted "We'll just be going then."

The three of them departed shortly thereafter, but Naruto couldn't get Gaara out of his mind. Just watching their interactions it was clear the two older genin where terrified of Gaara. If the Ichibi truly had gone mad, and it was sealed in him as poorly as Naruto suspected it was, then it probably had much to do with that.

All of that meant Naruto was as least partially responsible for the situation. The Ichibi would never have gone mad if Naruto hadn't refused to perform his role in the ritual to return the Biju to their realm.

It really was a sobering thought. He may have ruined the life of this boy and who knows how many others out of his own stubbornness. For that matter, how many had died sealing all the Biju that had been captured? Naruto had witnessed their power first hand and couldn't imagine it had been an easy process.

It really made him question for the first time if staying in this realm was actually the right thing to do? Even so he couldn't bring himself to seriously consider sacrificing himself at this point. Naruto was almost certainly the world's expert in meditation and all matters spiritual, but that didn't change the fact that humans weren't meant to live for hundreds of years while everyone else around them grew old and died.

Naruto was convinced the only thing that kept him sane was the thought of seeing of Hanabi again. He wasn't about to throw away his centuries old goal because his actions had some unfortunate unintended consequences.

Not to mention that he'd all but convinced himself doing so would be condemning his soul to an eternity of suffering. If their realm was so hard on the Biju, as powerful as they were, that they needed rest after only a few decades, why should Naruto believe the Biju's realm would be any easier on humans? Nor did he trust the Biju to answer him truthfully in that regard.

No, he wasn't giving up, but that didn't mean he couldn't do something else to improve Gaara's situation. Naruto followed the three genin, pleased that Gaara appeared to no longer be able to sense him since he blocked off his connection to the Biju.

They soon checked into a hotel, and the other two were quick enough to leave Gaara alone in his own room. The window was already open, so he waited until Gaara's back was turned and slipped in. Racing toward the boy, he was surprised to see sand already moving to block his assault, even though Gaara gave no sign of having sensed him.

Still, it was too slow, and Naruto had already reached him before the sand could block his path, grabbing the back of the boy's head. He then fed chakra into it in just the right way that he knew would cause him to pass out. The slumping body confirmed he'd succeeded. He might not remember the last few minutes, but there shouldn't be any harm other than that.

Naruto couldn't stand there congratulating himself for long, though. He sensed the Ichibi's chakra stirring almost the moment Gaara had lost consciousness. It seems the boy's will had helped hold the Biju back. The seal must be worse than he'd thought.

Not wasting any time, Naruto located the seal, and examined it. The construct was almost disgustingly simple. Completely inadequate for what it needed to do. Pulling out a small container of ink from his pocket, Naruto opened it and dipped his finger inside.

He quickly drew a pattern of seals around the outside the outside of the existing one, infusing the ink with his chakra as he did so. Once completed, the ink glowed briefly before fading out to become invisible. Immediately, the Ichibi's chakra faded from his senses as the Biju was being restrained much more tightly than he was before.

Setting the unconscious boy down on the bed, he slipped back out the window, cheerfully returning to the secret entrance to his current residence. That would certainly count as his good deed for the day.

* * *

Naruko and her team were hurrying to the location they needed to report to for the start of the Chunin Exams. She was annoyed that they had little time to spare before the deadline. "Seriously, haven't you ever heard of an alarm clock?" she complained to Kiba.

"Normally I don't need one," Kiba replied defensively. "I'm an early riser. I was just so excited I had trouble getting to sleep last night, so I kind of slept in."

"We still have time to make it," Hinata interjected diplomatically. "So there's really no harm."

"That's what I've been telling her," Kiba agreed.

Naruko supposed there wasn't much point to continuing the argument, especially as they were just arriving. As they made their way up to the second floor she noticed two familiar faces using a henge to make themselves appear younger.

"How's your knee doing, Kotetsu?" she called out with a smirk, as she turned her back on the pair and continued up to the third floor. She heard an annoyed growl behind her from the man accompanied by a chuckle from his companion.

They proceeded to register for the exam without any incident, even having a couple of minutes to spare. Soon the three of them found themselves entering a large room already filled with the other examinees.

"Naruko, Hinata, over here," Ino called out to them, beckoning them to where the other two rookie genin teams were gathered together.

Approaching the six of them, Naruko noticed that Ino's appearance was a bit disheveled, which was odd considering how much care Ino generally spent on her looks. "What happened to you?" she asked.

"A case of mistaken identity," Sakura answered before Ino could reply. "An older genin wanted to pick a fight with you but got the wrong blonde. Ino let her ego get in the way of common sense and accepted the challenge rather than correcting her. As you can see, it didn't work out to well."

"It's not like I was going all out," Ino insisted. "I didn't want to reveal any of my ninjutsu to a potential enemy in the exam. Things will be different if we have a rematch during the exam."

"She worked you over pretty good," Sakura countered. "I don't think it will make much of a difference. And you better watch yourself, Naruko. I know you're good, but if you're not careful you'll suffer the same fate as Ino."

For her part, Naruko was wracking her brain trying to figure out just who this mysterious genin was and what she had against her. She didn't have to wonder for long as the girl in question made her presence known.

"Stop making it sound like I'm out for her blood or something," a genin who had her brown hair done up in a pair of buns told Sakura, before turning to address Naruko. "My name is Tenten by the way, and you're actually Naruko this time, right?"

"That's right," Naruko answered. "Now if you don't mind, I'm curious as to why you wanted to challenge me."

"It's nothing special," Tenten replied. "I was just pleased to hear that there were several promising kunoichi in this year's batch of genin. A lot of girls don't take the whole ninja thing seriously and force the rest of us to deal with all the stereotypes. I just wanted to meet you and maybe see for myself how good you were."

"Yeah, you should have seen how worked up Tenten was getting when she heard some villagers going on about you," a new voice interjected. It belonged to a genin dresses in a hideous green outfit, and sporting a no more fashionable bowl cut. "She couldn't wait to challenge you. I've never seen her filled with such youthful energy."

"Lee, what are you doing here?" Tenten asked him, sounding scandalized by his revelation.

"I came to see Sakura-chan," Lee answered, looking longingly at the girl in question and seeming oblivious to the look of disgust that appeared on the target of his affection.

"Cut it out," Tenten ordered angrily. "And don't go around spreading things like that."

"Why?" Lee asked in confusion. "Wanting to prove yourself against a rival is nothing to be ashamed of. It should be commended if anything."

"Alright," Tenten declared. "I admit I was just a little bit jealous of all the attention you were getting when I finished second in my class, the same as you. But I really don't blame you for that. I just want to prove that you're not the only young kunoichi worth keeping an eye on."

Naruko really should have stuck to her original plan to not stand out in the academy. She really hoped more people didn't come out of the woodworks looking to challenge her. Even as it was, she felt her reputation was becoming more trouble than it was worth. Well, she'd made her choice so she wasn't about to fade into obscurity now.

"Well, you're welcome to try if we meet up during the exam," Naruko told her. "But don't expect me to hold back for your sake. It might not go as well as you hope."

"I think that's a risk I'm willing to take," Tenten fired back, although she seemed to be enjoying the banter rather than taking offense to it.

"You'd be doing Naruko a favor if you made her defeat as humiliating as possible," Sasuke broke his silence to tell Tenten. "As you can see, she has a highly inflated view of her skills, and would benefit from being taken down a few pegs."

"Oh, and the same can't be said about you," Kiba snapped at Sasuke, startling Naruko with how quickly he came to her defense. "I recall you getting the highest grade only by a hair. I wouldn't bet on you to beat Naruko in a fight alone, but as a team, you don't stand a chance against us."

"You shouldn't say that when you have no idea how much I've improved," Sasuke told him smugly. "At this point, I'm quite confident I could take your entire team by myself. Not that it would make much difference whether you joined the fight or not."

Kiba very well may have started a fight then and there if the proctor for the first exam hadn't chosen that moment to address the crowd. It turned out the first exam would be a written test. Sakura would love that, but it was hardly the challenge she would have expected the heavily scarred Morino Ibiki to give. It was going to be a team score, so Kiba was a bit of a concern, but between Hinata and herself, Naruko was fairly certain they'd be fine.

Her confidence quickly took a blow when the tests were passed out and she actually looked over the questions. The difficulty was far beyond anything she'd been expecting. Reading over all nine of the questions, there were only about three of them she was reasonably confident she could answer with maybe two more she might be able to work out of she was lucky.

Even among those five she had any hope of answering, there was only one that was based off what she'd learned in her time as Naruko. The other four she hoped to work through only because of her centuries of experience prior to that.

They couldn't possibly expect any normal Genin to answer these. Sakura maybe, but her friend could hardly be considered normal in that regard. Actually, that was it. She could already see signs of several people around her cheating, and based on the lenient rules regarding such an act, that appeared to be the point of the exam.

In that case, they might be in a pretty good situation. Hinata's byakugan was perfect for this exercise. Assuming Kiba didn't get them thrown out, they should do quite well on the first exam. She just hoped the next exam would be more interesting.

* * *

Naruto watched the assembled crowd of genin from his hiding spot just inside the Forest of Death. The second exam looked to be more like what he was hoping for. There should be plenty of opportunities to see what tricks these genin had up their sleeves. Although he was more than a little uncomfortable that there were so many kids taking part in this exam. They were really going to have children fight it out with deadly techniques and little in the way of supervision?

Not to mention that it was Anko who was running this exam. From his encounters with the woman, he wasn't sure she would interfere even if she saw two examinees killing each other. Still, they were all here of their own will. He wasn't in Konoha to change the way their society functioned. So shoving the thoughts aside, Naruto slipped deeper into the forest and waited for the exam to start.

* * *

"Kiba, try to use a little more stealth," Naruko berated her teammate, who was making quite a racket as he hurried through the forest without a care.

"Why?" Kiba asked, as he came to a stop next to her on large branch she was standing on. "We need to run into another team anyway if we're going to get an earth scroll."

"Because I would prefer our 'running into another team' doesn't involve getting ambushed by them," Naruko replied.

"Don't worry, none of our competition looked all that dangerous," Kiba insisted dismissively. "We'll blow through this as easily as the first exam."

"Considering you could have literally slept through the entire first exam and still passed, you'll have to forgive me if I don't find our performance all that impressive," she fired back.

That said, the first exam had eliminated well over half the participants. Mostly lost out to the final question. She had been pleased to see that none of her fellow rookie genin had caved in the face of such an obvious psychological ploy.

"I think we should be more careful too," Hinata chimed in. "They might be stronger than they look."

"Exactly," Naruko agreed, silently amused that Hinata had no idea that Naruko herself was probably the prime example of just that. "Besides, there's no reason teams from the same village can't work together. We might be outnumbered in a fight."

"Fine," Kiba finally agreed. "I'll try to keep it quiet as long as we get out of this part of the forest quickly. It reeks of snakes."

"Whatever you say," Naruko agreed in order to appease him, even passing off the opportunity to tease him about being scared of a few snakes just to get him to shut up. She started off in a random direction only to be stopped almost immediately by Kiba.

"Not that way," he insisted pointing off in a direction very close to where she'd just been headed. "The smell is coming from over there."

Looking at where he was pointing her eyes locked onto another pair that had been watching them from between the trees. As if provoked by being spotted, the largest snake she'd ever seen came dashing out of the forest at high speed right toward them. The three of them scattered, avoiding the forty foot long reptile, as it slammed into branch they'd just been standing on, easily ripping it from the tree.

Naruko ricocheted off a nearby tree heading straight back for the snake as she pulled out a kunai and slammed it down into the large eye. She was startled when the resistance of the creatures flesh gave way as the whole thing vanished in a puff of smoke.

"A summon," Naruko realized aloud. "Which means the summoner is around somewhere."

"Yes, and I admit I wasn't expecting you to take care of my little pet so easily," a voice called out as a Kusa ninja stepped out from behind a tree. He looked to be a couple years older than her teammates and she was having trouble deciding if the straw hat he wore added to or detracted from the overall creepiness of his appearance.

"Keep an eye out for his teammates," Naruko ordered, and was pleased to see Hinata activating her Byakugan.

"Watch out, he's ..." Hinata started to cry out, but was interrupted by the Kusa-nin who moved far faster than Naruko would have thought possible for a genin and planted a fist in her gut. The blow sent her flying back a dozen feet only to be stopped when she crashed into a large tree, falling limply to the forest floor.

"Now, now," their opponent chided the fallen girl, "I can't have you giving away all my secrets so soon."

"Hinata!" Kiba cried out, running to check on the fallen girl with Akamaru following right behind him.

As much as Naruko was worried about her teammate as well, she knew Kiba's actions were a mistake. They had to take care of the threat in front of them before they could help Hinata. Indeed, only Naruko's quick actions deflected a wave a shuriken that were already flying at Kiba's exposed back. The Kusa-nin followed up by charging right up to Naruko's face. She barely got her guard up in time, but rather than attacking, the other genin simply stood there, barely a foot away from her.

"I find it hard to believe, that mister holier-than-thou Minato actually cheated on his dear wife," the ninja muttered so quietly it almost seemed as if he was talking to himself. "Which makes me wonder if someone has been continuing my experiments."

Naruko's eyes widened in shock. His words, combined with the snake summons, made it clear just who this person was. "Orochimaru," she said softly, causing the man to smile.

"So, you know at least a little of your circumstances," he told her.

This was bad. As strong as their opponent had already shown himself to be, if this was really Orochimaru he'd just been toying with them. They didn't stand a chance against him even if they worked together, and Hinata was already injured.

Jumping back from the man defensively, she quickly let out a large pulse of chakra. If she knew Naruto, and she knew him better than anyone, he wouldn't be able to resist sticking his nose into this test. She only hoped he was close enough to sense that, and that he realized she needed his help. Until then, she could at least try to keep her team safe.

"Kiba, take Hinata and get her to safety," she ordered. "Get help if you can. That man isn't really a genin and he's too strong for us to handle."

"If he's that dangerous, then you should take her to safety," Kiba countered. "I hate to admit it, but you're faster than I am. You'll be more likely to get away. I'll stay here and buy you time."

"There's no time for this," Naruko shouted at him. "He's here after me and isn't likely to let me escape. He probably barely even cares what you do. Now take Hinata and get going. If anything happens to her because you stood here arguing with me it will be on your head."

"Fine," Kiba agreed, more easily than she'd expected, "but as soon as I get Hinata to safety, I'm coming back for you."

Naruko didn't try to convince him otherwise. One way or the other, it was unlikely he would return in time to make a difference. Naruko attacked Orochimaru to try to distract the man while Kiba made his escape, but he dodged around her and shot a snake out of the sleeve of his outfit. It almost seemed like a magic trick as the snake just kept coming out of the sleeve when it already was far longer than it should have been for one of that size.

It was fast too, having almost reached Kiba almost before Naruko fully realized what was going on. Thankfully, before it could hit, Akamaru slammed into the side of the snake. The reptile just bent around the dog, and continued its current course, but it was slowed enough in the process that Kiba was able to jump to avoid it before disappearing into the forest. As she'd hoped, Orochimaru showed little interest in chasing them, turning his attention back to her.

As much as she wanted to keep her cover, this wasn't an opponent Naruko could hold back against. So for the first time in years, Naruko summoned all the chakra she could manage. To her great disappointment this was significantly less than she'd been hoping for. Or at least the spiritual side of her chakra was. She'd known that, in theory that would become an issue at some point. It all came back to her not having a soul.

Religious implications aside, the main function a soul served was the generation of spiritual energy. She considered it one her greatest accomplishments that she'd been able to create a chakra construct that actually mimicked a soul, even generating spiritual energy. Even so, it wasn't nearly as efficient as the real thing.

Still, in theory she should have been able to generate almost twice what she actually had before reaching her limit. She didn't have time to try to figure out what was wrong, but the fact remained that this made a fight she already had a slim chance of winning far more difficult.

Hoping to take him by surprise and end this quickly, Naruko took out a kunai and leaped at Orochimaru, slicing viciously at the disguised man. She was now much more capable of dealing with his speed, and while she wasn't having any luck landing any of her attacks, he was clearly on the defensive. As close as some of them were coming, it looked as if it was only a matter of time before one of them got through and gave him a nasty wound.

Of course none of that made sense. There's no way she should be doing this well against a ninja of Orochimaru's caliber. Is it possible she'd jumped to her conclusion too fast and this might not be Orochimaru at all? It could be someone who worked for him, for example. There was also the chance he was still toying with her, a possibility that annoyed her even if it was in her best interest to buy time.

Also, it was bothering her that she didn't know what Hinata had seen that she was trying to warn them of. Whoever the man was, he had seemed determined not to let her tell them. Halting her attack, she jumped back and focused her senses, trying to use her training to discover what Hinata's eyes had revealed. Focusing first on the ninja in front of her, she felt something wrong about him. Digging deeper, it because clear just what it was. He was simply a clone.

"Backing off now?" the clone taunted. "But you were doing so well."

Trying not to give away what she'd discovered, Naruko spread her senses to the surrounding area, attempting to locate the person who'd created the clones. It was so well hidden she'd almost missed it, but she faintly sense something by a tree she passed over.

Charging toward the clone again, she dodged aside at the last minute, letting fly several kunai at what looked to simply be the trunk of a tree. However, right before it hit, the air shimmered and a figure jumped down to the ground. This unnaturally pale face was far more familiar, matching the pictures she'd seen of Orochimaru.

"I'm impressed you were able to find me," Orochimaru told her, "but this does spoil my fun a bit. Hardly the dramatic entrance I'd hoped for."

Speaking of his fun, Naruko whirled around and charged the clone, quickly reaching it and stabbing a kunai through its chest. The body quickly lost its cohesion and turned to mud, falling down to the ground. Sadly, she couldn't put down this victory to her skill at taking it by surprise. The clone had made no effort at all to stop her attack, its work apparently being over now that the real Orochimaru had been revealed.

"Now you're simply being petty," Orochimaru said playfully as Naruko turned to once again face him. "I think some discipline is in order for rudeness like that."

It was at that moment that Naruko noticed her feet were sinking into the ground. The mud from the clone had somehow spread and transformed the ground around her. She was now up to her knees in the stuff, but didn't seem to be sinking any further. Orochimaru must have done something while her back was to him. She should be able to get out of this easily enough, but she didn't have time as Orochimaru had just activated a jutsu and sent a huge stream of fire her way, the attack sporting a diameter of more than twice her height.

Naruko didn't think she could get out of the way in time with the mud slowing her, but she had another way to save herself. If she adjusted her chakra to have a fire nature, she could interact with the oncoming attack. She could subtly pull at the fire and shift it until it split and flowed around her.

Starting to do just that, she panicked when her mind came up blank with how exactly to what she'd just planned. It was too late to do anything else, and she doubted she could fully defend herself against the attack without taking damage.

However, just when she was preparing for the worst, her mind, perhaps impelled by her adrenaline, seized the answer she'd been looking for. Without a moment to spare, she quickly ran through the technique and breathed a sigh of relief as the fire parted around her, leaving her completely unsinged. Even before the attack fully passed, she was working to free herself, and almost as soon as the fire had cleared from around her, she jumped free from the mud and landed once more on solid ground.

"I don't understand why you're trying to kill me," Naruko told Orochimaru, hoping to stall him. "You were right that the Yondaime isn't really my father. I would think you would want a few answers from me more than you would a corpse."

"Believe me, if I were trying to kill you, you'd be dead," Orochimaru responded, seeming content to hear her out for now. "As for my motivations, simply put, if an attack like that could kill you, then I wouldn't have any interest in you at all."

"Well, I survived, unscathed, so how about we have a little chat," Naruko proposed. "I have some questions for you regarding your experiments as well."

"I suppose an exchange of information could be beneficial," he agreed. "So if Minato isn't your father, then just how did you come to be?"

At that moment, Naruko saw a sight that proved a great relief. Some distance behind Orochimaru, Naruto was leaning out from behind a tree and waving at her. He was keeping his presence hidden so that Orochimaru wouldn't know he was there, and Naruko did her best not to react in a manner that would give him away.

"No, you first," Naruko insisted, feeling much more confident now. "What experiments exactly do you think I might be a continuation of and how deeply did they involve Minato?"

"You're quite bold to make demands of me," he replied with an amused smile. "Still, I'm in a good mood, so I'll humor you. It's a bit of a long story that goes back to my childhood. Even as brilliant as I was, I was still a child, and as such not immune to such childish traits as being captivated by stories. However, while most children idolized such figures as the Hokages, there were other, much older stories that I enjoyed most."

Naruko was beginning to see where this was going, but was still missing a key or two that would tie everything together. To start with, she hadn't thought her father was famous enough that any stories of him would have survived.

"I loved to hear tell of the Red Demon," Orochimaru continued. "According to the tales, he traveled throughout the land hunting down all who angered him. As the stories go, he used flames that would burn through anything, and was completely unstoppable, destroying whole armies sent to oppose him."

Naruko grimaced at the embellishments made of her old vendetta against Akatsuki. She did wonder for a moment how anyone knew of her flames, when there had been no survivors the one time she'd used them. Although she supposed with the burned flesh, charred bones, and melted armor, it wouldn't have been hard to piece together what had happened should anyone who knew of Akatsuki's plans gone to the cave to see why there had been no word.

"I spent a great deal of time researching the stories," Orochimaru informed her, "hunting down any details I could find. Finally, I came upon a person who swore that his family had once known the Red Demon himself and even knew where he had lived. Following his directions, I came to the ruins of a house with a single weatherworn gravestone. For a genius such as myself, it was a simple matter to dig up the remains and use them to create a clone."

That was it; she finally had the answer to the biggest mystery since she'd arrived. The reason the Yondaime looked just like her father had. This man in front of her had defiled her father's grave, cloning the man in hopes of getting his son. The very thought made her blood boil.

"Of course it was a foolish venture," he admitted. "Given how skilled the man turned out, I may very well have cloned the Red Demon, but if so, it's only proof that man's environment has as much to do with his nature as his genetics. He's strong, but no one would ever consider him a demon. Now, I believe you owe me an answer. Who was responsible for your existence?"

"You'll have to speak to my brother for details on that," she told him unhelpfully.

"I plan to do just that," he assured her, clearly annoyed by her answer. "But you're here now and I expect more information from you than that."

"Don't worry," she replied with a smirk. "He's right here too."

Orochimaru didn't even have a moment to process her words before Naruto, who had been in motion even as she'd been speaking, slammed a fist into the side of the head. The force sent the man tumbling for a moment, but he quickly turned it into a controlled flip and righted himself, skidding to a stop a short distance away. Naruko was looking forward to seeing how Orochimaru fared against the original Naruto, free from the handicap of Naruko's artificial body and soul. The man was going to be in a world of hurt.

* * *

Naruto was angry. Not quite at the level where he'd have to worry he might be showing Orochimaru the flames he was so fond of hearing stories of as a child, but certainly angrier than he'd been in quite some time. Maybe it was just all the time he spent in temples, but Naruto considered defiling a man's grave one of the worst things you could do. Using their remains to create a clone of the person just took the depravity to the next level.

He really wished he'd brought his sword with him, as he'd have love to slice a few pieces off of the man, but he had hardly expected to need it. He'd just have to make do with his fists. Actually, that gave him the perfect opportunity to test something he'd been working on.

"Not bad at all," Orochimaru told him appreciatively, from where he stood. "I didn't even sense you coming. So tell me, what exactly are you and how are you related to Minato?"

"Sorry, but I'm not here to talk," Naruto answered, instead advancing forward and resuming his assault.

Orochimaru wasn't as fast as Minato had been. So combined with his own efforts to get back in shape, he had the clear speed advantage in this fight. Still, Orochimaru was slippery and while taking a few blows, avoided any serious damage. He still didn't even look to be taking this completely seriously, almost as if he was just feeling Naruto out to see what he was capable of.

Well, if that was true, Naruto would make him regret it. He directed his senses on Orochimaru, using focus and precision he was sure was beyond that of even elite ninja. What he was attempting to do was much more difficult in the middle of combat that when sitting in quiet meditation, but he soon succeeded, locating his target. Dashing forward, he slipped through Orochimaru's guard and rapidly pressed his finger against several points on the man's arm, forcing small amounts chakra into his body as he did. Sensing that he'd succeeded, he jumped back to admire his handiwork.

Yes, with centuries of training he was finally able to use the fighting style he'd learned as a child in the manner it was intended. He may not be able to see the tenketsu, but that wasn't necessary when he could now locate them by other means.

"Juken?" Orochimaru asked, examining the arm that was now devoid of chakra. "And yet you don't appear to have the byakugan. I'm not sure how you did it, but you interest me more and more."

With only one arm capable of using chakra, Orochimaru should be limited in what jutsu he could use. Still, Naruto was a bit concerned with what tricks he might have up his sleeve. Sparing a glance for Naruko, he moved to position himself between her and Orochimaru, thankful she had the sense to stay out of this so far. He'd feel better if she left completely, but Naruto knew he wouldn't in her shoes, which meant she almost certainly wouldn't, herself.

Naruto was about to go back to work dismantling Orochimaru until he wasn't a threat at all, but was interrupted when a woman jumped out into the clearing. Seeing who it was, Naruto groaned to himself. He had been hoping he wouldn't run into her.

* * *

When Anko reached the clearing the Inuzuka kid had directed her to, she felt a thrill go through her when she realized she'd been right and it was Orochimaru. She was grateful she'd been bored enough to go for a stroll through the Forest of Death to see how the kids were faring. Also that the brat had mentioned the snake summon after he'd somehow tracked her down. With all his begging for help and fussing over the Hyuga girl who was just regaining consciousness, she probably would have ignored the whiny genin otherwise.

Now, here she was, face to face with the person she despised more than any other. A nearby groan caught her attention, causing her to turn and see none other than Naruto standing there, with his sister standing a short distance behind him.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded of him, having been so focused on Orochimaru she hadn't even noticed until then.

"We'll have to continue this another time," Orochimaru announced, before she could get an answer. "Preferably someplace where we won't be so rudely interrupted."

So saying, he turned to flee, leaping up into the trees.

"You're not going anywhere," Anko vowed, jumping up after him. However, before she'd landed, Orochimaru turned around and fired a daitoppa at her, the large blast of wind catching her by surprise and sending her flying backwards to hit the ground hard. She cursed herself for her carelessness, having been too focused on her pursuit to prepare for such an obvious ploy.

Anko attempted to resume her pursuit, but she'd already lost sight of the man. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she knew that at this point she wouldn't find him unless he wanted to be found. So instead she turned her attention back to the other two people standing in the immediate area.

"Why didn't you chase after him?" she asked Naruto, still angry that Orochimaru had gotten away.

"I was just trying to protect my sister," he answered. "I'm no match for a ninja like him. If he wants to leave, I'll count my blessings."

Like Anko was about to buy a lie as weak as that. Orochimaru didn't run unless his self-preservation instinct kicked in, and he was too proud to consider his own student a threat. That meant that something about the other two had him worried, and blond man was the much more likely candidate than his kid sister. Besides, that pale face of Orochimaru's did little to hide bruises. Orochimaru had been in worse shape than either of these two looked to be.

Still, she already knew it was a lie, so there wasn't much point in calling him out on it. Let him think he had her fooled her. So now she just had to decide what to do with this man strong enough to worry Orochimaru and obviously not on good terms with him. It certainly made Naruto much more intriguing than when he'd simply been a chef who learned few neat tricks with his chakra growing up in a temple.

"Speaking of your sister," Anko announced, "I should disqualify her whole team. It's strictly forbidden to have people from outside the exam aid you."

"Even if he was only fighting someone else who was butting into the exam?" Naruko asked.

"He was just an unplanned course hazard," Anko replied with false sweetness. "You don't think Chunin never run into S-class ninja when they don't expect it? Anyway, I said I_should_ disqualify you, but I'm willing to overlook this little indiscretion. I'll even keep quiet on the whole matter rather than telling the Hokage all about Naruto meeting with one of Konoha's most wanted criminals. Of course, he's going to owe me a very big favor for this."

"Why do I have the feeling that dealing with the Hokage would be less painful than owing you a favor?" Naruto asked morosely.

"Don't be that way," Anko told him, enjoying his reaction. "Who knows, you might even enjoy the favor."

Anko doubted very much he would, but she didn't need to tell him that. Now, as hopeless as she knew it to be, Anko wasn't quite ready to give up looking for Orochimaru. So bidding the pair farewell, she raced off deeper into the forest.

* * *

Kankuro stood next to his sister as the both of them trailed a good distance behind Gaara. Looking back at the three fallen Oto-nin they'd just taken a heaven scroll from to complete their set, he couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable.

"They're all still alive," he pointed out to Temari, making sure to keep his voice low enough that Gaara wouldn't overhear.

"They are our allies," she replied. "Even if they were being arrogant and obnoxious, that doesn't warrant killing them."

"I know that, and you know that," Kankuro told her, "but Gaara never leaves anyone he fights alive. Not of his own volition anyway. I tell you, he's been acting strange ever since we got to Konoha. First he attacks that guy for no reason, and now he just decides to let those three live without us having to convince him or anything."

"He has been acting strange," Temari agreed, "and I'm beginning to wonder if that guy he attacked has something to do with it. It did all start with him. Maybe he's a jinchuriki too."

"See, you noticed it too," Kankuro said, glad she wasn't debating this. "We should tell Baki-sensei. If Gaara isn't in his right mind it could interfere with the plan."

"Even with Gaara's newfound capacity for mercy, do you want to trust it will last if Gaara finds out we're stirring up trouble for him?" Temari asked, causing Kankuro to blanch.

"No, I guess not," Kankuro admitted.

"Good," she replied. "Then we'll just keep quiet and watch him closely. Besides, if he's regained a little of a sanity, I consider that a good thing."

Kankuro thought that the notion of Gaara becoming saner rather than just a different kind of insane was overly optimistic, but his sister's advice was sound, and he'd follow it for now.

* * *

Kabuto was surprised to see Orochimaru appear in front of him in the middle of the second exam without so much as a disguise. On top of that, it looked as if he'd recently been in a fight that wasn't as one-sided as Kabuto would have expected from anyone who would be in the Forest of Death.

"Kabuto, I want you to drop out of the exam," he ordered. "I have a new task that needs your attention."

"If you believe that best, I'll do so," Kabuto replied, "However, I should warn you that our team dropping out in the middle of the exam for no reason will look odd. Combined with my abrupt withdrawal from previous exams, it may draw suspicion my way."

In a flash, Orochimaru was by Yoroi's side, grabbing his arm below the wrist and bending it until Kabuto heard the bones in his arm snap. To Yoroi's credit, he merely grunted in response to the pain.

"There," Orochimaru announced cheerfully. "Quitting because one of you has a broken arm shouldn't look suspicious at all. Now, here's what I need you to do."

Kabuto listened closely as Orochimaru explained his plan, interest growing with each detail that was revealed. This certainly came as a surprise, but Kabuto could see now why he was changing the plan at so late a stage. Yes, he was looking forward to seeing what fruit this bore.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

A much longer break than I intended this time, but don't take it as a sign I'm losing interest in this story. I actually have a fairly good excuse for the delay to the story, in my humble opinion. Massive hemoptysis from diffuse alveolar hemorrhaging with no cause that the doctors can determine, for those who know or care to look up those terms.

Long story short, I spent eight days in ICU plus some additional hospital stay, and recovery time at home after that. Needless to say, this story was a low priority for quite some time, and even when I got back to it, it took some time to gather my thoughts again, since I keep it all my head rather than writing notes or outlines.

That said, I'll get back to more important topics than whining about my health. You may have noticed I only lightly covered a couple of scenes I could have gone into more detail on. I originally did write out the whole first exam and the fight between Ino and Tenten. In the end, I removed them and summarized instead.

This wasn't simply to appease the people who want me to focus more on Naruto and less than Naruko. It was just that no matter how I looked at it, they were just too dull to be covered in such detail. I could have worked on the making them more interesting, but it didn't seem worth delaying the chapter for content that really isn't that important to the story in the first place.

Anyway, with the holiday season coming up, and other distractions (aka video game releases) it's highly unlikely I'll get right back to a chapter a week. That said, you shouldn't need to wait two months for the next chapter either.


	10. Chapter 10

Naruko still found it hard to believe they'd gotten off so easily after facing Orochimaru. When she'd met back up with Kiba and Hinata, the latter was already conscious again and seeming no worse for the wear. Not running into any other S-class ninja, they were easily able to grab the scroll they needed from some hapless team and complete the second exam. Then it was just a matter of waiting. That and trying to fend off Kiba's constant questioning about just who had attacked them and what was going on. Hinata was too polite to ask once Naruko made it clear she considered the topic closed, but it was obvious she was interested as Kiba.

Anyway, when the waiting was over, Naruko wasn't sure which surprised her more, the fact that only five teams had arrived before time expired or that three of them were composed of Konoha's rookie genin. A fourth team hailed from Konoha as well, that being Tenten's team. A single team from Suna managed to keep the third exam an international event. When the second exam was over, the five remaining teams were led to a large room where Minato-sensei stood waiting for them. Behind him were five people she assumed to be the leaders of the teams. Kushina stood with the other four, likely taking Minato's place due to his administrative role in the exams, being the leader of the hosting village.

"I'd like to congratulate you all on making it this far," Minato told them. "However, I'm afraid not all of you will be proceeding on to the third exam." Naruko could practically sense the discontent caused by that statement among her fellow genin.

"I hate to do this after what everyone has accomplished, but the accord that setup the Chunin Exams states clearly that there can be no more than 12 participants in the final exam," Minato explained. "You all deserve to continue on, but my hands are tied on the matter. The best I can do is keep the maximum number allowed. As such, 6 of you will be randomly paired off and fight preliminary matches. The three who lose will be eliminated."

"That's not fair," Kiba complained. "The third exam doesn't start for a month. If we beat up our opponent, what's to stop them from telling their teammates all about how we fight? Not only will some people get a free pass to the finals, they'll have all that time to prepare counters."

"Actually, all genins will be watching all the preliminaries," Minato answered. "So regardless of who you're fighting you will be at a disadvantage in that regard. However, those who fight now will all have byes in the first round of the finals. So you'll have had a chance to see how everyone else fights before your second match. They'll have had more time to prepare, but that's balanced by the fact that you'll be completely fresh when your first opponent may still be recovering from their previous fight."

This mollified Kiba to some degree. Naruko of course felt he was getting ahead of himself. He was more worried about people seeing his abilities than actually losing in the preliminaries. He had been training hard under Minato, so there might be a few people here Kiba could beat, but Naruko's instincts told her than he was definitely on the weaker end of the fifteen remaining genin.

With no further questions to answer, Minato announced that they would soon begin. Naruko was looking forward to the preliminaries. She'd have at least a couple of fights where she could simply sit back and enjoy the show. In addition, given the variety of jutsu that would surely be thrown around, it would most likely be a very entertaining show indeed.

* * *

Naruto wasn't particularly looking forward to the preliminaries. He'd still had plenty of opportunities to observe fights between genin after that little ruckus Orochimaru had started. Yet in all of those, he didn't see anything that remotely interested him. Many of the techniques were quite deadly, but almost all of them devolved into throwing, hot, pointy, and/or heavy objects at their opponents. Even the more subtle techniques were generally quite simple in application and had little use beyond hiding from or killing someone.

There was some small part of him that was excited to see such things nonetheless, but the years had jaded him to the point where the more practical side easily drowned out that voice. And practically speaking, nothing he'd seen had any potential to free him from his tie to the Biju. Naruto supposed he shouldn't be surprised. Genin weren't likely to have access to more advanced techniques like summoning, or Minato's hiraishin. He'd love to get a good look at the theory behind them and see if there were any potential applications, but the Chunin Exams didn't appear to be the place to see them on display.

As low as his expectations were, there was always a chance he'd see something interesting, and he really didn't have anything better to do. Of course this part of the exam wasn't exactly open to the public, which is why he found himself physically a safe distance away, while projecting his chakra into the building the exam was being held in. It allowed him to see and hear as if he was physically present, even if it was a bit distorted. He was capable of clearing that up, by increasing the power he was putting into the technique, but there was already a significant risk of detection, and that would only make it worse.

A stealth technique this was not. While no one could physically see him, he needed to use a non-trivial amount of chakra, which could easily be sensed. As such, he was counting on the fact that with so many people there giving off chakra auras, no one would even pay enough attention to see that there was one that didn't seem to be attached to a body. Too much power though, and people would take notice.

For now, his plan seemed to be working, as he blended in with the small crowd. Not that it was doing Naruto much good. The first fight started off about as dull as he'd feared. The Choji kid had a highly unusual ability where he turned himself into a giant ball and tried to run down his opponent. That didn't work out well for him in this particular matchup, as his increased size just made him an easy target for Kankuro's poisons, which quickly immobilized the young Akimichi.

The second match was at least a little more engaging, even if the jutsu used were just as useless to him. Naruko's teammate, Kiba, was up against another Konoha genin by the name of Lee. Kiba actually seemed to be getting the better of the other boy at the start of the match. He filled the arena with smoke while he and his dog did their best to tear Lee up with that gatsuga of theirs.

They got in several solid hits, and Naruto was about to write the match off as over when at the direction of his jonin sensei, Lee removed some ridiculously heavy weights he'd been wearing. Without them to slow him, Kiba was unable to keep up with the green-clad genin. He was shortly knocked out leaving Lee to be declared the winner. That left only one match remaining for the preliminaries. Time to sit back ... well ... float back and hope for the best.

* * *

Naruko was pleased to see that Kiba was already coming to as he was being carried out by medic-nins, with Akamaru and Hinata looking on with worry. He may be annoying at times, but that didn't mean Naruko wanted to see him hurt. Almost as soon as he was conscious again, Kiba fought his way free from the medics and made his way to where the rest of his team was waiting.

"Shouldn't you let them examine you?" Hinata asked him in concern.

"I'm fine," Kiba insisted tersely. "There's nothing broken. He just packed a bit more of a punch than I was expecting, that's all."

"Your mistake was that you toyed with him," Kushina told him. "You should have gone all out and finished him when you had the opportunity. If he was still holding back at the time, that's his fault. Consider it a lesson in underestimating your opponent."

"Meh," Kiba replied. "I know how these exams work. You need to show off a bit if you want to get promoted."

"Well, you did it your way, and you're certainly not advancing to chunin now," Kushina spat back in annoyance, obviously not pleased with having her advice so rudely dismissed.

"That was just poor luck," Kiba insisted. "I got matched with a monster of an opponent when most people don't even have to fight. If we'd fought in the finals, my showing would have been enough to earn a promotion whether I won or not."

"You must think we let just anyone become chunin," Kushina countered, her volume having risen to the point where most would consider it yelling, even if they wouldn't say so to her face. It had also attracted a lot of attention. Nearly everyone in the room was looking at the pair of them, although Minato was studiously looking anywhere but there, as if pretending he didn't notice what was going on.

"What are you all looking at?" Kushina demanded of the spectators. "And don't start with that Minato. You're acting as if you're embarrassed to be in the same room as me."

Minato finally looked their way, but rather than try to calm his wife, he cleared his throat and addressed the room. "Anyway, the next match is decided. It will be Haruno Sakura versus Tenten."

Naruko immediately looked to where her friend stood a short distance away, trying to judge her reaction to the announcement. She expected her to be worried about the upcoming fight. After all, apparently she'd witnessed Tenten easily defeat Ino, and when they sparred, Ino would beat Sakura more often than not.

If Sakura was nervous, however, she was doing a good job of hiding it. She looked determined than anything. Naruko hurried over to her before she entered the arena.

"Don't push yourself too hard," Naruko warned her. "You've only just begun your career, there's no hurry to get promoted. If you're clearly beaten, there's no shame in giving up."

"There's no need to worry," Sakura assured her. "I have a plan."

"You'll need more than a plan to win," Ino interjected, having also made her way to Sakura. "Maybe something more a like a miracle."

"Don't forget, thanks to you getting yourself beaten up, I've already seen how Tenten fights," Sakura reminded her. "I owe you a favor for not realizing when you're outclassed."

"Then if you win, dinner is on you when we go out celebrate," Ino said cheerfully, before turning more serious. "Just be careful. She's extremely fast and deadly with those weapons of hers."

Nodding in reply, but not delaying any longer, Sakura made her way to the arena. There she faced off against Tenten until the start of the match was called. Immediately Sakura jumped back, creating more space, but no sooner had she done so that she was forced to dodge a hail of shuriken heading her way.

"What is she doing?" Ino asked. "She saw how deadly Tenten is from range. If she wants to stand a chance she needs to get up close."

Sakura's plan must not have been along that line, as she continued to keep her distance, even as Tenten was increasing the tempo of her ranged attacks. Soon, Sakura was forced to resort to kawarimi to avoid getting skewered by the various weapons, a technique she began applying very liberally. Sakura was completely on the defensive, and had yet to even try an attack of her own. This was a fact that seemed to irritate Tenten to no small degree. Tenten began trying to predict where Sakura would appear after her kawarimi and often had attacks already flying in Sakura's direction almost as soon as she reappeared.

Although on one occasion, she completely misjudged where Sakura was moving to, which bought Sakura a little time until the next wave of attacks came. It was then that Naruko took note that Sakura had quickly made a couple of other hand signs prior to using kawarimi. If Tenten had noticed the same thing she gave no sign of it. Still, Naruko couldn't see any effect from that jutsu, and began to wonder if Sakura had even had time to finish it before she was forced to avoid Tenten's attack.

This was especially true as the pair of combatants immediately went straight back into their original pattern. Tenten didn't continue for much longer before she tired of the routine and pulled out a couple of scrolls, setting them on the ground. Almost as soon as they'd settled in their position, smoke began to pour from them, as they flew up into the air, unwrapping as they twirled around each other.

Tenten then leaped up into the center of the scrolls and began summoning weapon after weapon and throwing them across the room at a pace far faster than before. The air was practically filled with the weapons, leaving Sakura little in the way of safe places, even if she did use Kawarimi. She must have realized this herself, as instead she pulled out a pair of kunai and began to deflect what weapons she couldn't weave around. She was moving much faster than Naruko had ever seen her move before, and still was clearly at the limits of her ability.

In fact, Naruko was sure it was beyond her ability and that she would be quickly overwhelmed. The only reason she could see why this hadn't already happened was that Tenten was inexplicably slowing her assault in the middle of her technique. She even stopped it when, based on the scrolls, it looked like she could have continued for some time.

"Thank goodness Tenten is giving her a chance to surrender," Ino said in relief. "If she had kept that up, she'd have made Sakura into a pincushion."

"Actually, I think Sakura did something to Tenten," Naruko told her, as she recalled the hand seals she'd made earlier in the fight.

"What do you mean?" Ino asked curiously.

"I'm not sure," Naruko admitted. Tenten didn't look the least bit worried by the events, as she would most likely be if Sakura had done something that had forcibly slowed her assault. So maybe Ino was right, and she was just giving her a chance to concede. Still, Naruko couldn't shake the feeling there was more to it than that.

* * *

Tenten watched her bloodied opponent as the girl glared at her angrily. She had countless cuts and scrapes from where she'd been just a little too slow to dodge, but her worst injury was the sai that pierced her right shoulder, causing the whole arm to hang limply to the side, useless to her. Tenten hadn't intended to wound Sakura that badly, but that was always a risk when so many weapons where being employed. You never knew just how your opponent was going to dodge.

"It's clearly over, so give up," she instructed the other girl.

"Never," Sakura spat out, trying to advance toward Tenten but falling to her knees instead as her legs gave out beneath her. Nevertheless, she looked every bit as defiant as she had before her fall. Tenten actually respected her determination, as foolish as it was, but if Sakura refused to give up, she would have to end this. She'd just do it as mercifully as possible out of respect. A quick knockout blow and it would be over.

So she walked up to the pink-haired girl, giving her a last chance to see reason before Tenten acted. When she was within arm's reach, Sakura finally acted. Tenten had been half expecting Sakura to make one last half-hearted attempt at something, but she was completely surprised by the strength with which she lunged to her feat. Tenten hastily put up a defense, but was caught flatfooted when the Sakura's supposedly useless right arm came up in an uppercut that slipped under her guard and nailed her in the chin.

Tenten was lifted off her feet by the force of the blow, as Sakura proved to be stronger than she looked. Tenten's vision even went black for a moment as she came dangerously close to losing consciousness. Fighting against the blackness by force of will alone, her vision cleared just in time for her to get a defense up against a kick that was coming straight at her. This time, she managed to successfully block, but was rattled nonetheless as she was sent hurtling backward, having not yet even landed from the first attack.

It was then that Tenten noticed a very important fact. Sakura was completely uninjured. Even still slightly addled from the punch, it only took her a moment to come to the conclusion that she must have been under the effects of genjutsu. She'd only thought she'd been hitting Sakura when in fact the other kunoichi must have avoided every attack. It was a clever trick, and Tenten had fallen for it as if she were the rookie instead of Sakura. Still, she wasn't out of this yet, and Sakura was still pressing her taijutsu assault, which played right into Tenten's strengths.

Using the string that was attached to the weapon, she pulled a spear into her hands as she landed. Then, swinging the weapon before she'd even fully regained her footing, she countered the next attempted attack by Sakura, impacting side of her charging opponent's head before the girl's fist could reach Tenten. Then, spinning the weapon around, she shoved the butt of the spear into Sakura's stomach, forcing her back and knocking the wind from her. Stepping forward, she then swung the spear again slamming it into the side of Sakura's head with even more force this time now that she had proper leverage.

This proved enough to cause Sakura to crumple to the ground, unconscious. Not being willing to fall for the same trick twice, Tenten immediately worked to dispel any genjutsu she might be under, but was pleased to see that Sakura's body remained motionless on the ground.

"Winner, Tenten," the ninja refereeing the fights announced.

Tenten smiled at this, looking up to where Naruko stood looking down at the fight. She'd now defeated two of the three kunoichi that been the talk of the town, but strongest of the three still remained. Sakura shouldn't have been any challenge for Tenten at all, but she'd come much closer to losing than she was comfortable with due to her own negligence. She vowed she wouldn't underestimate Naruko in the same way and would give her everything they got if they fought in the finals. Tenten only hoped that neither of them ran into someone like Neji before they got a chance to fight.

Tenten was determined to prove she was the stronger of the two of them, and doing it in front of the audience that would be gathered for the final exam would be perfect. Yes, this next month couldn't go by quickly enough as far as she was concerned.

* * *

The final fight had been more intriguing than the other two, even if that wasn't saying much. At least there had been one technique he'd been mildly interested in. That was the reason why he was waiting for Naruko in the small apartment she lived in. It was a couple of hours before she arrived, but he hadn't been in any particular hurry, using the time to simply play with some ideas for seals he had in his mind.

"It's rare for you to show up here," Naruko pointed out. "What do you want?"

"That jutsu Tenten used to summon weapons from the scroll, how does it work?" Naruto asked.

"I'm not actually sure," Naruko admitted. "It's a pretty basic ability. Most every ninja learns how to do it sooner or later, even if they're not quite as good at it as Tenten was. I just never had any motivation to learn it."

"But you could ask Minato to teach you, right?" Naruto questioned her.

"Of course," Naruko agreed, "but I don't think it'd do either of us much good. I somehow doubt storing physical objects in a scroll is going to have much application in separating your soul from the Biju."

"That's probably true," Naruto admitted, "but as I don't know how it works, I can't say. Maybe there's some way to modify it to store spiritual objects instead of physical. If I could make the energy of the Biju simply vanish, it wouldn't matter how entangled it was with my own soul. I understand how incredibly unlikely that actually is, but at the very least the ability might give me some new ideas."

"Yeah, but Minato would teach me that anytime I asked," Naruko countered. "Right now he's really into making sure I outdo the Sandaime's team. I might be able to use that to get something really good out of him. If I play my cards right over the next month, it's even possible he'd let me in on the toad summoning contract. That'd probably be a much better starting point for what you're hoping to do than a simple storage seal."

"Good point," Naruto agreed. "I wouldn't mind if you got that hiraishin jutsu out of him too."

"Um ... that's kind of his signature ability," Naruko pointed out. "I somehow doubt he'll teach that to a genin no matter what he bet the Sandaime."

"Well, see what you can do," Naruto told her. "Just don't forget what this is all about. Whether you win your fights or not doesn't really matter, so try to steer him toward teaching you stuff that's useful to us rather than just abilities with combat utility."

Recently, Naruto worried she was getting a little too into her role. Not acting suspicious was important, but she'd yet to actually bring him much of anything of interest. He could see that even his gentle reminder hadn't sat too well with her, however.

"Don't you think I know that already?" she asked him tersely. "Remember that I'm basically you but with a better idea of how to actually go about an infiltration without getting caught. They've actually trained me in this sort of stuff."

"Don't get so worked up about it," Naruto told her. "If it's just acting than you should be proud of the fact you even had me wondering."

With that, he left before she had a chance to reply. Despite her claim, it was getting harder and harder for Naruto to think of Naruko as just a clone of him. Maybe it was just her acting skills, but too often she behaved in a way completely counter to what Naruto would have done in her shoes. Ah well, as long as she did was she was supposed to do, Naruto didn't care how she behaved.

* * *

With Naruto having departed, Naruko was left to her own thoughts. She was having trouble fully understanding why Naruto was becoming so obsessed with her mission lately. Even if it took her years to discover anything interesting, that was nothing to them. This went beyond him simply being bored. It was a fairly recent change, but it was as if someone had flipped a switch in him and he went from being laid-back about the whole thing to really getting into it. It might not appear that much had changed to an outsider, but even while his behavior confused her, she still knew him well enough to see how worked up he was becoming about this.

Before she worried too much about that, she wanted to look into another matter. Now that she had some time to herself, she could try to figure out why she wasn't able to call on as much spiritual energy as she should have been able to while fighting Orochimaru. Beginning to meditate, she focused her senses inward. She expected a very deep dive into her spiritual self to get any hints, but almost as soon as she'd begun she saw something that shocked her.

A key chakra construct that had been used in her creation was coming unraveled. It was the same one used in ordinary bunshin that gave them memories and personality despite not having any physical form, much less a functional brain. The fact that it was beginning to fall apart explained a lot. When she momentarily couldn't recall that technique to save her from Orochimaru's attack for example. There were a number of other small memory lapses like that she'd had recently now that she thought of it, although she hadn't paid them much attention at the time.

It made sense what was happening, but Naruko couldn't figure out _why_ it was falling apart. The construct should remain stable no matter how long it was in use. Unless … of course! That was it! It was that stupid seal in Orochimaru's lab that Kiba had messed with. The shock from that must have damaged the construct. She should have known it was Kiba's fault.

Of course, as bad as that was, Naruko was certain there was even worse news. The limited spiritual energy she'd been able to call upon would easily be explained if the construct used as an artificial soul had been similarly damaged. And if that completely broke down, well ... she would die. Naruko's mind raced trying to come up with any solution to this problem. Repairing a construct damaged in this manner was much more difficult than actually crafting it. She might be able to figure out how, but she doubted she'd be successful before it finished unraveling. And she couldn't simply create another clone as well-crafted as herself, as she couldn't summon enough spiritual energy to do so.

Idea after idea she tested in her mind, and for each she found a flaw. Some were more likely to hasten her death than save her. Some she didn't think she could work out the details in time. No, she had things she could try, but the odds were against her with any of them. She estimated she had only months at the rate it was falling apart, and she really needed years, if not decades.

Obviously it didn't hurt to try one of them when there was no other option, but it would be foolish not to have a plan in place in the likely event that it failed. Naruto could easily create a perfect physical copy of her body with his memories. Then if Naruko left it enough notes, it might be able to continue her work without rousing too much suspicion. Of course that had its own potential for failure. Naruko wondered if that might explain Naruto's sudden change in attitude. Maybe he sensed what was happening to her and wanted to do what he could before everything fell apart.

Dutifully, Naruko wasted little time in starting her notes. She wrote it out as if she was keeping a journal, so it wouldn't look strange if someone got their hands on it. Even so, she still felt bitter about the whole situation. She knew academically that she was just a clone, and if another clone could take over for her, then that should be fine. Nevertheless, the thought of losing years worse of memories didn't sit well with her. Even though it would be another clone fulfilling the same role she currently was, it felt more like it would be someone else entirely pretending to be her, and _that_ idea may have bothered her even more than thinking of the clone as if it were her only missing some memories.

Well, other than hoping for a miracle, she didn't know what else she could do. So hope for one she did, more fervently than she would have expected.

* * *

Kabuto was pleasantly surprised by how well his plan was proceeding. All it had taken to get Koharu to show up at the hospital was a note reminding her she hadn't been in for a checkup in quite some time. The fact that this was true, and that the hospital regularly sent out notes just like that made it quite believable, but he knew from experience that patients could be stubborn, and few more so than the elderly. So he had expected it to take more than three days to get her to make an appointment.

After that, it was a simple matter of a little forgery and alteration of reports to make it appear that Koharu had a cancerous tumor in her neck, but one that could easily be removed via surgery. Now things were getting a bit more risky as he was no longer able to simply change paperwork from the shadows. He'd have to get directly involved himself. So he found himself entering the operating room in a henge that disguised him as one of the hospital's surgeons. There he discovered Koharu lying on the operating table.

"Hello there," he greeted her warmly. "I'll be the surgeon performing your operation. Do you have any questions before I begin?"

"No, I'm as ready as I'll ever be," she answered gruffly. "It's not my first operation, although at my age one always has to wonder if it's their last."

"I wouldn't worry about that," Kabuto told her comfortingly. "We discovered the tumor early so this is actually a very low risk procedure. Now, I'm just going to administer the anesthesia. You might feel a slight burning sensation, but you'll be asleep before you know it."

It wasn't, however, the anesthesia left in the small tube by the hospital staff that he put into the IV, but a little something he'd come up with himself. He saw her eyes glaze over as it took effect. It would leave her mind quite foggy and open to suggestion. It really was a remarkable set of chemicals. Those he tested it on never even had the presence of mind to realize something was wrong, but they were still capable of having mostly coherent conversations. All the anti-interrogation training in the world didn't help you if you had no idea you were being interrogated. Although it was most effective when combined with a simple genjutsu that he was now applying.

"Koharu, it's me, Naruto," Kabuto told her, knowing that she'd now see him as such thanks to the genjutsu.

"Naruto?" she asked in confusion. "Where am I?"

That was odd. None of his test subjects had ever shown any curiosity as to their current situation. Her mind may actually be picking up that something was off despite the drugs and genjutsu. It was an impressive feat if it was true. He should try to distract her as quickly as possible just to be safe.

"We're at my home," he answered. "You came to visit. Now tell me, how did we first meet? I don't quite remember."

She hesitated for a brief moment, and he almost thought he'd failed, but she soon began to talk, and oh what a tale she had to tell. As Kabuto continued questioning her, it became quite apparent just why Orochimaru had been so interested in Naruto. He continued as long as he could, trying to get any remaining details from her, but he was soon forced to stop as he sensed two people approaching. Quickly taking the real anesthesia, he distributed it through the IV, watching Koharu's consciousness fade just as two nurses entered the room. The drug he'd put in her wouldn't be too hard to detect if you actually knew to look for it, but if all went well, they'd have no reason to look.

"Oh, you've already sedated her," one of them asked.

"Yes, just now," he answered. "Now, if you'll wash up and prepare, we can get started."

Kabuto then went through the motions of performing the procedure. A little sleight of hand even produced a small mass that would look just like a tumor as he removed it from Koharu's neck. Then, quickly as he could, he sliced through the left carotid artery. As the cut began to bleed profusely, he went put on a performance of frantically trying to stop it, but Koharu's life soon faded away.

"I ... I killed her." Kabuto cried out when he'd confirmed her heart had stopped. Then, slipping the fake tumor back into a pocket faster than the nurses could see, he shoved past one of them and ran out the door. He sprinted out of the hospital, and dropped his henge as soon as he was out of sight.

The doctor he'd disguised himself as had been the perfect scapegoat. The man had always reacted poorly to losing a patient, and had a known drug problem in his past. They would find him back in his home, unconscious and heavily drugged up with the substance Kabuto had conveniently found hidden away in the man's home. Given his state, it would be no surprise that he wouldn't recall the operation that 'he' botched, leading to his relapse into drug abuse.

Yes, he had his information, and he was optimistic that no one would be the wiser.

* * *

Naruto hadn't done much besides mope around the former restaurant since he heard of Koharu's death a few days ago. It wasn't that he'd been particularly close to her. He'd barely known her as a girl and knew even less of the woman she'd become. Still, it was never easy being reminded that eventually everyone around him would age and pass on while he kept on living. Sadly though, he'd learned to deal with that years ago, and what was probably responsible for the majority of his moroseness was the fact that he'd lost his best connection to Konoha and its secrets.

She may not have actually given much of anything yet, but at least there was hope that would come in time. Without her to defend him, Naruto couldn't even be certain he'd be allowed to stay in Konoha. She was always quick to remind him that there were those who would prefer to see him go. So Naruto brooded and waited to see what would happen. He must have been even more lost in his thoughts than he'd realized as he barely sensed that someone was coming before they walked through the door. Naruto welcomed the distraction, until he realized just who it was.

"Hey there," Anko greeted him. "I've been kind of busy what with the whole Orochimaru thing, but I figured it was about time I stopped by to collect on my favor."

"I don't suppose you'd accept free dango as payment, would you?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"No, but you can get started on those anyway while we discuss the matter," Anko replied.

Groaning Naruto did just that, waiting for Anko to state what it was she wanted. He was waiting for quite a while as she appeared to be deliberately drawing the matter out, probably wanting to see him squirm. She remained silent while he cooked the dango, and then only spoke to compliment him on their quality as she slowly ate them. Naruto did his best to play along, looking impatient and worried, emotions that didn't require much acting at the moment, but at the very least he could exaggerate them a bit. Denying her this small pleasure would only put her in a bad mood, and he didn't want to make this any more difficult than need be.

"Are you going to tell me what it is you want or just sit their torturing me all day?" Naruto finally asked.

"Can't I do both?" she replied coyly smiling as she earned a glare in response. "Anyway, it seems to me I witnessed some events you don't want to get out. Now I would consider it a fair trade for you to give me some information I want, in exchange for me keeping silent on the information you don't want to get out. So tell me, what connection do you have with Orochimaru?"

"Easy enough," Naruto told her. "There's really very little to tell. That was the first time I'd ever met the man and I've never really done anything related to him. It was my sister he was after, and as far as I know, the only reason he cares about either of us are because of our connection to the Hokage."

"There must be more to it than that," Anko insisted. "And even if there's not, that certainly isn't valuable enough to pay off your debt. You'll have to come up with something worth my silence."

Naruto had suspected it wouldn't be that easy, but he was going to have to set his foot down. He doubted there was anything he could say to satisfy her that wouldn't be worse to reveal than what she already knew.

"Even if there was more, I'd be pretty stupid to give you more information to blackmail me with," he told her firmly. "If you're not satisfied, then go tell the Hokage everything. It may get me in trouble but I don't care about that as much as you seem to think I do."

"I had a feeling it might come to this, so I did think of another form of payment," she told him. "If you agree to do this favor for me, I'll let you off the hook."

"And what favor might that be?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"Come now, it's no fun if you get to hear what it is before you agree," she told him playfully. "Don't worry though, it's not too bad. You might even enjoy it."

Naruto still didn't trust her, but he'd been mostly bluffing when he suggested she tell the Hokage. The last thing he wanted right now was the headache of them demanding to know what he'd been doing lurking about where he wasn't supposed to be at the same time and place as Orochimaru. Still, he wasn't going to agree to do just anything without some sort of out.

"I'll agree to do it if you're telling the truth about it not being too bad," Naruto answered. "But that's as far as I'll go without more information."

"Meh, good enough," Anko agreed, pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to him. "I want you to follow the instructions on this list."

Reading it over it became clear that this was some sort of hit list for her enemies. It described exactly how she wanted the people punished or humiliated. Most of them weren't _too_ bad. Things like dumping a bucket a mud on them while they were in public. There were, however, some notable exceptions.

"Some of these items are pretty drastic," he pointed out. "What did these people do to you?"

"All of them deserve worse than I'm asking for," Anko insisted. "As you may already know, I haven't been very popular since Orochimaru betrayed the village. This list contains some of the most vocal advocates for holding his former pupil responsible for his actions."

That did explain a lot. He'd certainly seen that ninja villages didn't exactly produce the most trusting of people, so it was a believable story. Still, there was one item in particular that stood out as worse than any of the others.

"You want me to burn down someone's house?" Naruto asked her. "Look, I'll do the rest of the items on the list, but this is just too much."

"Oh no," she said firmly. "You don't get out of that one. It's the most important item on the list."

"I'm sorry," he told her refusing to back down. "I'm not even going to consider it unless you can convince me she guilty of something quite heinous."

Anko simply glared at him, and he just matched her glare, it almost becoming a contest of wills between them. Naruto wasn't going to bend on this, however, and it was Anko who backed down.

"Okay, I'll tell you," she exclaimed. "It's hardly a secret in the first place. Before Orochimaru's betrayal, she was actually a close friend of mine. I'd been telling her since we were kids that I wanted to move into that house someday."

"And she bought it first just to spite you," Naruto completed for her.

"Worse than that, she waited until I finally had enough money and was already working on a contract to buy it from the owner," Anko spat out angrily. "Then she swooped in and bought it out from under me at the last minute. And now she can't so much as cross paths with me without rubbing my nose in the fact that she lives there now."

Naruto could actually empathize with her if that was the case. But he was still a little reluctant to go through with the act without hearing the other side of the story. It wasn't too hard to imagine that Anko wasn't as innocent in all this as she made herself out to be.

"You do realize that if these really are your biggest enemies, it will be quite obvious that you're behind this," he pointed out, hoping she'd see reason.

"Of course I do," she answered. "I want them to know I'm responsible. I just want to be able to prove I wasn't directly involved. While you're out having fun, I'll make sure I'm constantly in a public place surrounded by as many witnesses as possible. They won't be able to do a thing besides fume about it."

Naruto sighed but didn't think she was likely to back down on this. "You win, I'll do it," he eventually told her. "But you better keep your end of the bargain."

"Great," she said cheerfully. "Come and find me as soon you're done. I want to catch them when the shock is still as fresh as possible."

Taking the list with him, Naruto decided he'd better get started.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

I was originally planning to go a bit further before stopping this chapter, especially as it would have included some Naruto centered action scenes that I'm sure many of you have been hoping for. Those readers will be pleased to know that they should become a bit more frequent in the coming chapters.

Those chapters should have a few more surprises too, which will please me at the very least, since this story has been a bit too predictable for my tastes so far. Anyway, I'm traveling for the Christmas holiday, and will likely do almost no writing until New Year's weekend. (This is why I cut the chapter off a little early rather than make you wait two more weeks.)

With that three day weekend, however, I'm hoping to get a lot of work done on this and possibly get you chapter 11. Oh, and I think I'm done with naming chapters. I don't know what possessed me to start in the first place. More trouble than its worth considering I'm not any good with names.


	11. Chapter 11

**Foreword: **Since several people have brought this up, I realized how important it was to bring up a key detail of bunshin abilities in this story. I consider the memory transfer upon a clone's dispelling to be an ability unique to the kage bunshin. As such, Naruko could not simply be dispelled to give Naruto the memories.

* * *

Naruto felt good to be doing something again, as small a gesture as it was. Anko's little blackmail scheme might have been unpleasant, but he had to admit, it may have been just what he needed to shock him out of his funk. So what if they might drive him from the village without Koharu's protection? Why should he worry just because he didn't fully trust Anko to keep her word?

That was all the more reason to act now, while he still had the opportunity. Which is why he found himself standing outside a weapon shop. One with a note on the door that the owner would be back shortly. Really, after all the stuff Anko had him do, the phony message he'd left to draw the man away for a few minutes didn't cause him so much as a twinge of guilt.

In the distance he saw Tenten approaching the store, just as she had at this time on each of the past three days. Not that he was about to let on that she was the reason he was here.

"It appears that the owner had to step away for a bit," he informed Tenten when she had reached the entrance to the shop.

"That's unusual," she replied. "Anyway, I haven't seen you around here before."

"I don't usually have any need for weapons," Naruto responded. "Although based on your comment, I suspect you come here rather often."

"Well, I'm in the finals of the Chunin Exams," she told him. "I just want to make sure I'm prepared."

"Ah, my sister is in that as well," Naruto said genially.

"Your sister?" she asked quizzically looking him over. "Oh, are you Naruko's brother?"

"That's right," he confirmed. "I take it you noticed the resemblance. Anyway, the name is Naruto. And you are?"

"I'm Tenten," she answered simply.

"I should have guessed," he told her. "I heard about your fight from my sister, so I can say that it's not at all surprising you'd be a regular at a weapon's store."

"So are you here to buy something for your sister?" Tenten asked him. Naruto suspected the question was a subtle attempt to get hints as to Naruko's abilities and fighting style, but her question played right into his own hands.

"No, I'm actually here because of this," he answered, holding up a sword inside a beaten up and rusty sheath. He was pretty proud of the illusion of age the sheath gave, considering he just made it last night. "The sword is a memento of my father, but I just don't think the sheath does it justice. So I was going to see about getting a new one made."

"You don't mind if I have a look at the sword, do you?" Tenten asked curiously.

"Not at all," he told her, pulling it free from its container.

The gasp she gave out when she saw the slightly glowing blade was encouraging. It seemed he was right to assume she'd be interested in this weapon.

"This sword is amazing," she told him. "It's infused with chakra on a level that only masters can achieve. I know of only three people throughout history who could make a sword on this level, and it doesn't look like any of their work."

"You really know your swords," Naruto told her appreciatively. "I'm afraid I never had any real interest, much to my father's disappointment."

"Wait a minute," Tenten said. "Isn't the Yondaime supposed to be your father?"

"So I'm told," Naruto answered, not missing a beat, "but I'm referring to the man who raised me. Whatever anyone says I still think of him as my father."

"I imagine he was very skilled," Tenten speculated, not arguing the point with him. "You don't often see swords of this quality in the hands of amateurs."

"Just in my case, huh?" Naruto quipped.

"Ah … no offense intended," Tenten quickly replied in response to Naruto's joke.

"Don't worry about it," Naruto told her. "It probably is a waste for me to have it. I'm just planning to hang it on my wall."

"Have you thought of giving it to Naruko?" Tenten suggested.

"She doesn't use swords either," Naruto informed her. "So she probably wouldn't get any more use out of it than me."

"Ah, that is a shame," she replied.

"Actually, you may be on to something though," he said thoughtfully, deciding it was time to reel her in. "Naruko may not have need of it, but perhaps you're looking for a new sword?"

"Heh, I wish," Tenten answered wistfully. "But you shouldn't joke with me like that or I might just run off with it."

"No, I'm serious," Naruto told her, holding it out in her direction. "My father would be happier with it being put to use than just becoming an ornament."

Tenten began to reach out her hand for it before quickly pulling it back. "No I can't possibly accept a gift like this. It's just too much."

"Hmm," Naruto said, as if puzzling it over. "Perhaps you'd be willing to accept a trade then."

"I'm afraid I don't have anything valuable enough to offer," Tenten told him. "I don't think you realize just how much that's actually worth."

"It doesn't have to be anything valuable," Naruto insisted. "I'm just trying to find an excuse to get you to accept it. How about you teach me the basics of storage seals? I imagine it must be useful for carrying things around."

"Storage seals?" she asked. "That's it?"

"Just say yes," Naruto told her in mock exasperation, while pressing the sword toward her. "I really do want you to have this."

"All right, yes, I'll take it," she finally said, gingerly taking the sword and testing the balance before looking back at Naruto with a huge smile. "Now you want to know about storage seals? I'll teach you more about storage seals than you thought possible. I can start right now if you'd like."

"That would be just fine," Naruto said with a smile.

* * *

Minato didn't need this headache right now. He should be helping the two members of his team still in the finals prepare for it. He'd had less time to devote to that than he should have already, what with Orochimaru showing up in the previous exam and then disappearing without a trace. Now he had to figure out how and why Naruto was sneaking out of his house despite the place supposedly being under close watch.

He probably wouldn't even have known if an off-duty ninja hadn't just happened to wander past as he was conversing with a genin. Minato still didn't fully trust Naruto, and having the ability and desire to escape from under the watch of skilled ninja did little for his cause. However, before confronting Naruto, Minato wanted to find out just what he'd been doing. Which was why he was headed for where he was told Tenten would be, as she was his best clue at the moment.

He found the girl in the middle of a training field swinging around a blade with a degree of skill that would be impressive at her age even if she focused entirely on the sword. The fact that she practiced with weapons of all types made impressive a bit of an understatement. It always warmed his heart to see such evidence that Konoha's future was in good hands. The warmth that thought generated vanished in a moment as he recognized something that made his blood run cold. This was something far more serious than sneaking out of his home.

"Where did you get that sword," Minato asked, despite being pretty sure he knew the answer. He realized he'd said that more harshly than he'd intended when the girl shrank back, clearly afraid of his reaction.

"From Naruko's brother, Hokage-sama," she answered meekly. "I trained him in how to use storage seals in exchange. Is that the problem? I know I didn't ask for permission or anything, but he is Naruko's brother. I didn't think it would be an issue."

"Storage seals?" Minato asked in confusion. "He could learn about those from anyone. No, you don't have to worry about who you train if that's all you're teaching."

Minato couldn't understand why he would give away something so valuable over such a low rank jutsu. It was possible that he was simply trying to win Tenten's trust in hopes of learning more sensitive information, but a genin weapons specialist hardly seemed the ideal target for something like that.

"You're not in any trouble as far as I can tell, but I am going to need that sword," he told her.

She reflexively drew it back away from him, showing her first bit of spark in this meeting. "I am going to get it back, right?" she asked.

"We'll see," he told her noncommittally reaching out and taking the now sheathed sword as she reluctantly released it to him.

Departing immediately he signaled one of his guards that were discretely following him, and the masked member of Anbu approached. "Bring Naruto to my office," he ordered, before heading there himself to wait for his arrival.

This left Minato to his own thoughts. Given the sword, it seemed obvious that Naruto had some connection to the man who had seemed determined to break into the Hokage tower more than seven years ago. He considered briefly that Naruto might be the same person. But that seemed unlikely unless he was under some kind of henge that could fool even his best sensors, and he'd had them examine Naruto very early on.

Naruto only looked to be about twenty. It was possible he was a bit older than he looked, and he might have reached his full height young, or even been under a henge at that time to appear larger than he was. Still, Minato's pride didn't want to let him believe someone as young as Naruto had given him so much trouble the better part of a decade ago. Minato was still considering the matter when Naruto was lead into his office.

"Where did you get this sword?" Minato asked, not wasting any time. He watched for a reaction such as fear or confusion, but the other man's face didn't give any hint of either. If anything, he looked annoyed, as if being dragged in front of the Hokage were just a nuisance to him.

"It was my father's," Naruto replied. "I gave it away because I know he would have preferred it being used to sitting around collecting dust."

"Your father's?" Minato parroted. "Forgive me for asking, but his death, was it about seven years ago?"

"Yes, but how did you know?" Naruto asked. "I don't believe I ever told anyone that."

Yes, if true, that was one possible connection that would explain a lot. Why the infiltration attempts had stopped as suddenly as they'd started for one. Also, if he knew he didn't have much time left, it could explain why he'd been so desperate to get in in the first place. Perhaps he'd been hoping for some secret medical jutsu that would save him. Perhaps it had to do with his connection to Orochimaru as well.

There didn't seem to be any record of a man who looked just like Minato himself did, yet Orochimaru had apparently known enough of Naruto's father to want to clone him. Maybe the two were working together and he'd been after something for Orochimaru's sake. Even if they weren't accomplices in that matter, it's quite possible the man would have found something out. It was even possible Minato himself may have been the man's target all along. He may simply have been curious about the man that looked so much like him.

Of course this wasn't about Naruto's father. As interesting as the subject was, the man was dead. It was Naruto himself that concerned him. Minato had nothing but circumstantial evidence and suspicion against him. Nevertheless, Naruto's past tied too closely to Orochimaru for comfort considering they both showed up in the village around the same time. With important dignitaries coming from all over in the next month for the Chunin Exam finals, and Orochimaru sneaking around doing who knew what, Minato would be happy to have one less thing to worry about. And with Jiraiya in town at the moment, he knew just the way to get that.

"That's not important," he finally answered. "Now, I understand that we haven't had any work for you lately. I apologize for that, but Koharu had been arranging your teaching sessions. After her tragic passing, I'm afraid there were more than a few things that got lost in the shuffle."

"That's understandable," Naruto said with a nod.

"Anyway, there is something I could use your help with," Minato informed him. "Jiraiya received word that Akatsuki has been spotted more than once in a town not far from here. Given their apparent interest in you, we'd like you to go with him when he investigates."

"I was wondering if you were ever going to bring that up," Naruto told him casually. "So, you decided to use me as bait?"

"I can assure you, Jiraiya is one of the most skilled ninja in this village," Minato replied. "I can't say the mission is without risk, but you'll be compensated accordingly."

Naruto seemed to be considering it, and Minato had to wonder what his next step would be if Naruto refused. He couldn't force him to go on this mission, but one way or another, he was getting him out of Konoha for a while.

"Okay, I'll do it," Naruto finally said, forgoing the need for further musings along that line. "It could be a nice change of pace."

"I'm glad to hear that," Minato told him in complete honesty. "I haven't spoken with Jiraiya about taking you yet, but it's my understanding he wants to leave soon. I'd make any preparations you need quickly, as he'll find you as soon as he's ready to go."

"If that's all then?" Naruto asked. Minato confirmed that it was and watched as Naruto departed.

The situation wasn't entirely ideal, as he'd have liked to keep Jiraiya around. That said, it was hard to keep his old sensei in one place for long. He'd likely have left on his own accord, so it was better he take Naruto with him. With that taken care of, maybe he could spend a little time personally overseeing his team's training. He had some ideas to give them a few surprises for the finals. He wasn't about to lose that wager.

* * *

Naruto was surprised by how well that had gone, considering. Still, he wished he'd had the foresight to make a new sword to give to Tenten. But in his defense, how was he supposed to know that Minato would be able to recognize a sword he'd only seen briefly and years ago at that? Anyway, it seemed that little oversight hadn't cost him too much, so he might as well put it out of mind and focus on the matter at hand.

He was being sent on a mission where he may very well run into Akatsuki again. For all of Itachi's talk of it not being the same organization, he couldn't help but feel wary of them. The fact that Konoha seemed to have a very low opinion of them didn't help matters either. They seemed a pretty decent lot overall.

As such, he was inclined to cooperate with them on this mission. At the very least it should win him some goodwill. Not to mention that it sounded more interesting than what he'd been doing lately. Of course a lot of that depended on Jiraiya. He didn't get much of a chance to know the man during their brief meeting the last time to Hokage had pulled him in for questioning. Well, he'd just have to wait and see what he was like.

* * *

Uchiha Yashiro was deep in thought going over their plans for the operation. As much as he disliked the thought of depending on anyone outside the clan for help, much less a man like Orochimaru, they had to face reality. The Uchiha Clan simply wasn't capable of taking over the village unaided. They would, however, play a major role in that process.

Given that they were members of Konoha, there were few places they couldn't freely go in the village. When the time came for them to strike, they would have members placed at key locations. Many of Konoha's most dangerous ninja would be assassinated before they knew what hit them. There would also be those placed simply according to where they could cause the most chaos.

Most of the clan would be involved in the attack, but there were a few who were being kept in the dark. Most notably Sasuke. The boy was entirely too fond of his traitor of a brother. For all their talent, it was a shame that Fugaku's boys couldn't have been more like him. But there would be no repeat of last time. There were half a dozen other people who had been a little too reluctant to do what needed to be done last time, and none of them had any idea what was going on.

No, nothing would stop the Uchiha rise to ascendency this time.

* * *

It had been almost two weeks since the preliminaries, and Kushina and Minato-sensei had been training them hard. Still, Naruko was having a hard time putting her heart into it. Now that she knew what to look for, it was easy to tell that her memories from Naruto were degrading. They were already only about half as clear as they were before the whole mess started.

Nor had she been able to brainstorm any way to save herself, as hard as she'd been trying. It didn't help that Naruto had disappeared on a mission at the worst possible time. Even with all the planning she'd done herself, the best she could give herself was a 10% chance of surviving any attempt to fix the problem. And even that might be a bit on the optimistic side.

As usual, she went through the motions of training again today. The whole time she was eagerly waiting for Minato-sensei to call for a stop, and when he finally did, she made to dash off back to her apartment to work on the problem a little more. However, before she could could take so much as a step, she felt Hinata grab gently at her shirt sleeve from behind.

"Excuse me … Naruko," she said hesitantly, "but has something been bothering you lately?"

Naruko grimaced at being confronted like this. She shouldn't be surprised Hinata had noticed something the way she'd been acting lately, but this wasn't exactly the sort of matter she could discuss.

"It's a little late to say no, but it's kind of a personal matter," she told her as gently as she could.

Naruko's good intentions aside, Hinata's face fell noticeably in reaction to the evasion. "Well … even if you don't want to talk about it, just know that I'm there for you. I'm sure Sakura and Ino and Kiba and Minato-sensei and Kushina-sensei are all there for you too."

Naruko felt guilty now for worrying Hinata like this. Hinata's support really did mean a lot to her. Much more than she'd have thought it would have. Just the thought that she'd be losing all the memories she'd made as Naruko if Naruto had to create another clone to replace her terrified her more right then than it ever had before.

It confused her at first that it would bother her so much more now than when she'd first learned of what was happening, despite having had more time to deal with it. Then it hit her. As her memories from Naruto became fainter, the ones of her time as Naruko became much stronger by comparison. Her time as Naruto seemed almost a story she'd heard from someone else. With her time as Naruko being the only time that seemed real, it felt more and more like the destruction of this clone would actually be her death, rather than just the equivalent of losing some memories.

Epiphany aside, Hinata was still looking depressed. She didn't want to drag Hinata down with her into her self dug pit of despair. The other girl may have started this conversation to try to cheer Naruko up, but maybe Naruko could do that for Hinata instead.

"Really, it's past time I pulled myself together anyway," Naruko told her, doing her best to look upbeat. "I should be back in top form in no time."

It wasn't exactly a lie either. She did need to pull herself together. Since when was she the type to give up? Even if she'd still been looking for a way out, she'd all but conceded that failure was inevitable. So what if it was only a 10% chance that it would work? She'd find a way to save herself. And in the meantime she could stop with the journal she'd planned to pass on to her replacement. If anything, it should be her memories from Naruto she should be trying to back up. Those were the ones she was losing.

"I mean it, Hinata," she told her, more energetically now. "And your support really means a lot to me. It helped me more than you probably realize."

"I'm glad to hear that," Hinata replied, smiling sweetly. "You've always been the one cheering me up. Even if it's only a little, I'm pleased I could help you for once."

Naruko grinned broadly at that. Maybe this time they'd both succeeded in cheering each other up.

* * *

"So, how's your team coming along?" Sarutobi asked Minato, having wandered into his office while he was doing some paperwork.

"Trying to collect some intelligence your team can use against them?" Minato quipped. "I'm not so naive as to fall for that."

"As if they need any such advantage," Sarutobi replied in mock condescension. "Sasuke's progress in particular is nothing short of astonishing. You'd better start preparing yourself for the consequences of losing our bet."

Minato was glad to see Sarutobi in such high spirits. As long as he'd been a shinobi, he was no stranger to death, but Koharu's had hit him particularly hard. Losing a teammate was never easy, and it might even be worse in his case. With how dangerous the career was, you could count on one hand the number of Konoha ninja still alive from Sarutobi's generation. You'd even have fingers to spare. It must get pretty lonely after a while.

"Don't assume it's all over yet," Minato insisted. "Naruko has been making some pretty amazing strides herself."

Especially after she'd gotten out of that funk she'd been in. Minato had nearly been to the point of getting involved himself, and he'd all but had to physically restrain Kushina to keep her from meddling. So he was thrilled to see that Hinata had finally stepped up and helped Naruko through whatever was bothering her. Strong bonds between team members were important when their very lives depended on each other.

"Confident are we?" Sarutobi smirked, lighting up his pipe and taking a puff. "How about we make a slight adjustment to the wager then."

"What are you proposing?" Minato asked suspiciously.

"Nothing much," the former Hokage answered. "It's just that ultimately our little bet seems fated to come to down to Naruko versus Sasuke anyway. Why don't we just determine winner based on the student that comes out on top in that match? You can even make sure that they face each other in the first round when they're both fresh. It ensures a level playing field."

"You mean fix the match?" Minato asked, surprised by the suggestion. "They're supposed to be randomly determined."

"It happens more often than you realize in these things," Sarutobi assured him. "Besides, it's not like anyone is going to complain in this case. We have two of our most promising contenders exhausting themselves in the first round? How is that bad for anyone else?"

As Minato thought about it, he realized that the other man was right. What was the harm in that particular bit of intervention? "You've convince me," Minato agreed. "I'll make sure the match happens. All you have to do is admit defeat when Naruko wins out over Sasuke."

"_If_ she wins out," Sarutobi corrected. "Although I suppose that situation is possible. There's always the chance Sasuke could be deathly ill for the finals."

"We'll just see about that in a week, won't we?" Minato asked.

For all his blustering, he knew he would have to take this challenge seriously. Sasuke was a genius ninja with sharingan trained by Sarutobi himself. But he was completely serious in his belief that Naruko had the potential to win. Having trained Kakashi, he wasn't unfamiliar with having a genius student, but Naruko may actually have even more potential than his former student. She picked up jutsu so quickly it was almost as if she had the sharingan herself. Yes, even if it weren't for his personal stake in this match, it would be one he wouldn't want to miss for anything.

* * *

Naruto was really starting to tire of this mission. It had started well enough. Jiraiya had clearly been suspicious of him at the start, but had warmed to Naruto surprisingly quickly. He was a decent enough fellow too when he wasn't in the middle of 'gathering research material.' The problem was that they'd been out here in this little village for weeks and nothing had happened.

Not to mention that the longer they'd been out here, the less intelligence gathering Jiraiya had done, and the more he simply drank the day away or worked on the aforementioned research. Today Naruto found Jiraiya already on his way to being drunk despite it not yet being noon. Naruto was beginning to have suspicions about this whole mission, and now was as good a time as any to confront the man on them.

"This whole thing is a farce isn't it?" Naruto asked him in irritation. "This isn't about Akatsuki. The Yondaime just doesn't trust me and wanted to be rid of me."

"Now now," Jiraiya said, trying to calm him down. "It's not as bad as that. There really was a report of Akatsuki in this area, and I was planning to stop by anyway. It's just that, at Minato's request, I may have stayed here a little longer than I would have otherwise."

"So I'm right about him wanting me out of the picture though?" Naruto asked.

"Don't think too poorly of him," Jiraiya requested. "Minato just worries too much. Then again, he's the Hokage, so it's his job to worry. But I consider myself a pretty good judge of character, and you're all right in my book. Just think of this as a short vacation, and I'll work things out with Minato when we get back. On that note, why don't you pull up a seat? This round is on me."

Not quite ready to just take it easy like Jiraiya suggested, Naruto nonetheless sat down on the stool next to him as the man ordered for him. A drink or two wouldn't hurt. It wasn't like he could get intoxicated with his healing factor.

"You know, whatever actually went on with the whole situation, you've got Minato's genes and you're actually quite a bit like him," Jiraiya told him as Naruto was downing the beverage that had been placed in front him.

"How so?" Naruto asked. "You mean the physical resemblance?"

"Not just that," Jiraiya answered. "For example, that waitress at the restaurant down the road obviously has a bit of a thing for you. Play your cards right and you could easily have a rather enjoyable night, if you know what I mean."

"I already told you, unlike you I don't just look at women as way to get 'an enjoyable night,'" Naruto replied, not masking his disapproval.

"See, just like Minato," Jiraiya announced. "You're a good kid but a bit too uptight for your own good."

"Be that as it may," Naruto said while standing up again, having finished off his drink, "I think I'm going to head out for a bit. It's too nice day to spend it all drinking in here."

"Sure," Jiraiya said, waving him off, "but do think about paying a visit to that waitress."

Not even considering that comment worthy of a response, Naruto departed without further word. Once outside, he began to wander through the small town not really having any particular destination in mind. Naruto didn't like sitting around out here doing nothing, but returning before Jiraiya approved it would probably just lead to Minato getting rid of him another way. It was probably best to just play along for now and get to work convincing Jiraiya that they should return.

Even distracted as he was with his thoughts, Naruto's eyes instantly locked onto a familiar pattern when a small crowd parted in the market district. Standing in front of the him was a tall blue-skinned man carrying a massive sword and wearing the cloak that indicated he was a member of Akatsuki. Since the man's back was to him, Naruto hadn't been spotted. He briefly considered going back for Jiraiya, but quickly dismissed the thought. When he'd started this mission, he'd intended to help them against Akatsuki, but he'd had plenty of time to think it over, and now he wasn't sure that was in his best interest.

Itachi had known far too much about Naruto's past. It wouldn't do to have certain pieces of information get out if one of Akatsuki's members were captured. That didn't mean Naruto wanted to just let him go on his merry way. So instead he followed the man as stealthily as he could. He was setting a leisurely pace, but soon enough he was outside the city. Naruto continued to tail him until they were over a small hill and out of sight of anyone else. Then he stopped hiding his presence, watching the other man immediately turn around in reaction.

"Who are you, and what business do you have with me?" he asked casually, not seeming concerned at all that Naruto had snuck up on him.

"The name is Naruto," he answered, not seeing any immediate reaction to that. "One of your companions recently tried to recruit me. Our conversation was cut short, but I admit to being curious as to why you'd want to recruit me or how you even found out I existed."

"Naruto huh?" He repeated. "It seems I'm being left out of the loop again. I haven't heard of any recruitment efforts."

Did the man really not know anything or was he just playing with him? If he was in the dark, this was a complete waste of time. He'd get nothing useful out of him, and it would have safe to bring Jiraiya after all.

"You must not be very important in Akatsuki," Naruto mocked, hoping to find out if he really did know nothing. "I understand the organization is pretty small and they still don't even let you know who they're trying to bring in?"

"I'm Hoshigaki Kisame," he responded huffily, "former member of the Seven Swordsman and infamous throughout the elemental nations. They simply don't tell me everything because I generally don't care. Anyway, you have a lot of guts saying something like that when I've never even heard of you."

"Ah," Naruto answered, pretending that meant something to him. "My apologies then. However, if you don't know anything then I really don't have any business with you." Naruto turned to walk back to the village, but was stopped by a call from behind him.

"Hold on a minute," Kisame ordered. "I don't usually get involved in such things, but I'm not about to let some weakling nobody into the organization. So let's see what you've got."

"I don't suppose there's anyway to decline?" Naruto asked, not very hopeful. In hindsight, he really should have avoided the insult.

"Just think of it as an admission test," he answered. "If you die you fail."

Unwrapping the cloth around his sword Kisame revealed what had to be the most unique weapon Naruto had ever seen. The sword somehow seemed to have grown from its already massive size after being unwrapped. It was covered in spikes angled back toward Kisame. But the strangest part of all was that the sword had it's own mouth at the tip of the blade.

As astonished as he was, Naruto didn't lose sight of the fact that he needed to defend himself. Taking a scroll out of his pocket, he used his newly learned storage seal to summon a glowing katana. It was very much like the one he'd given to Tenten, Naruto having used the same basic design when he crafted it to replace the weapon he'd traded.

"A fellow swordsman, huh?" Kisame asked. "That should make things interesting."

With that, Kisame charged him, starting the match off with a mighty swing of his sword. Naruto parried, grunting a bit with the effort of stopping the force behind the blow. As he did, he felt an odd sensation. The other sword was actually attempting to draw chakra out of his own blade. Not about to let it have its way, Naruto wrapped his own chakra around it as a protective coating, keeping a tight reign on it to prevent it from being drawn away. The next couple of strikes proved his tactic successful, as the sword was unable to tear away any meaningful amount of chakra.

After the first few exchanges, Naruto began to get a feel for his opponent. Obviously he was incredibly strong. Naruto had never faced an opponent with such bone-jarring intensity behind each attack. He was also fast, but much less than Minato, and unable to even match up to Orochimaru in that category. The real danger in his opponent, however, was the combination of his incredible skill and the highly unorthodox nature of his attacks. Nothing had ever trained him for dealing with a sword that could bend and shift its shape.

Nevertheless, Naruto quickly got into the fight. It had been ages since he'd had a real sword fight with anyone other than his clones. So Naruto actually began to lose himself to the simple thrill of the exchange. The parries, dodges, counterattacks, and even the clanging of the two swords. It helped that given the difference in their speed, Naruto didn't feel particularly threatened by Kisame's attacks. There had been a couple of close calls early on. But after he'd gotten a little used to strange nature of the sword, Naruto felt like he was in complete control of the fight. In a way, he was almost disappointed when Kisame jumped back to create some space between them and dropped his stance.

"Not bad," he told Naruto, "but I hope that flashy swordsmanship of yours isn't all you have. Let's see what happens when I take it to the next level."

Pulling off his cloak and tossing it to the side, Kisame began making hand seals. Meanwhile, Naruto did the best he could to prepare himself for what was coming, given that he had no idea what it was. After Kisame had finished the seals, Naruto had barely registered that the man's sword seemed to be wrapping itself around its wielder's arm when the attack began.

"Suiton: Daibakusui Shoha!" Kisame called out as a giant wave formed around him and raced toward Naruto, engulfing him completely.

Naruto was pushed around by the force of the waves, but soon came to a halt as the water settled. He quickly gained his bearings, seeing that he was now surrounded by a dome of water. Even more surprising, Kisame had undergone a rather extreme transformation. He'd had a decidedly fish like appearance before, but he looked far more like a shark than ever before. His skin had turned from blue to gray, and he had prominent fins and a long tail. His sword was nowhere to be seen, but given the way it had been wrapping itself around Kisame before he'd lost sight of him in the confusion of the attack, Naruto could only assume he'd fused with the sword to achieve his new appearance.

Naruto's first order of business was to deal with his new environment. If Kisame hoped to drown him, he'd be extremely disappointed. Converting a little bit of his chakra to the wind element, he was able to use it to create the air he needed right around his face, allowing him to breathe normally. It took little effort to maintain the effect, so he was in no danger of the technique wearing off anytime soon. Perhaps he should have pretended to drown to lure his opponent in. Ah well, Naruto wasn't sure he'd be able to act that out convincingly, and he had his own plan for dealing with the fish-man who was now swimming around, circling Naruto rapidly.

His movements appeared to be faster in the water than they were outside, while the reverse was true for Naruto. It didn't take long for Kisame to grow bored of circling Naruto and instead charge straight at him. This, however, was exactly what he wanted. Using a much more powerful version of the same technique he was using to breathe, Naruto created a large bubble centered around himself that expanded outward, pushing back the water and surrounding Kisame before he could react to what was happening. Without any water to hold them up, the two combatants began to fall, with Kisame's momentum continuing to carry him closer to Naruto.

It was a testament to Kisame's ability, that despite how surprised he was, he still had the presence of mind to attack Naruto as reached his target. As spikes formed around Kisame's right arm, he swung it at Naruto with an attack that would have cleanly decapitated him if he hadn't ducked under it. Naruto then counterattacked, but rather than use his sword, he threw his arm up, palm open and grabbed Kisame's face. Then, with the same ability he'd used on Gaara, he forced massive amounts of chakra into his head in just the right manner to cause him to lose consciousness.

He put much more power into it than when he'd used it against the boy, wanting to ensure there was little chance he'd be able to resist it, and sure enough, he went completely limp. What's more, his skin almost seemed to be pulling away from him as the mass reformed into the unusual sword, leaving Kisame in his original form. Falling out of the bubble, the two of them splashed back into the water beneath it. With Kisame out cold, the water didn't hold together for long, quickly spreading out and soaking the surrounding area, leaving Naruto standing in muddy ground.

Now Naruto needed to figure out what to do with Kisame. It might be hard to explain how he took the ninja out himself when he wasn't supposed to be skilled in combat. On the other hand, from a casual glance the man seemed to simply be sleeping. He might be able to just report a sighting of him to Jiraiya and let him take the credit for the capture. With how much chakra he'd put into his final attack, the man would be lucky to remember his own name, much less his fight with Naruto, so he should be safe on that front.

Returning his sword to its seal, Naruto looked around. He quickly realized they'd managed to wander off quite a bit in the course of their fight. It took him a little while, but he did locate the cloak that Kisame had discarded, and using a little chakra, pulled the water out of it to dry it. Putting it back on the large man, he lifted him over his shoulder and then cautiously approached his sword. Picking it up carefully, he didn't get any reaction from the weapon. Either it was Kisame actually controlling the sword, or his attack had managed to rob the consciousness of the sword as well, as strange as that sounded.

Soon he made his back near the entrance of the city, grateful to see that the area here had been unaffected by the watery orb. Putting the man and his weapon down by a tree to the side of the road, Naruto set off toward the city. Aiding in the capture of one of Akatsuki's members should go a long way toward alleviating some of the suspicion against him. Yes, this might turn out very well for him.

* * *

Kisame slowly opened his eyes, even that seeming to require a lot of willpower. His head was completely muddled and he was having trouble forming any coherent thoughts. Nevertheless, decades as a ninja told him that he needed to pull himself together as quickly as possible, and he devoted every bit of effort he had into doing just that. In mere moments, his vision cleared, and he saw a figure that even his currently addled mind managed to identify as Jiraiya of the Sannin. The man was ordering him to surrender.

This most likely explained his current predicament. There were few enemies Kisame considered capable of leaving him in a state like this, but Jiraiya was certainly on that list. He didn't know what weird jutsu he was under, but he had to pull himself together. He may not remember what was going on, but he wasn't about to surrender. His body was beginning to work a little better now, so he leaped to his feet, dashing over and grabbing Samehada from where it lay next to him.

Jiraiya had already reacted to his aggression and before Kisame could get up a proper defense, he found a fist planted in his gut. Kisame knew he was in no state to continue this fight. As much as he hated the idea, flight was his best option. He'd realized this before the blow had even landed and was already reacting appropriately. Lifting his feet off the ground, he kicked off of Jiraiya, timing it to add to the momentum of the man's own attack and send him rocketing off away from Konoha ninja.

Kisame twisted around and landed running. Samehada was strangely unresponsive, but that was a worry for another time. For now he needed to focus on his escape. He kept expecting signs of pursuit, but even after several minutes of running, no such thing was apparent. Perhaps Jiraiya hadn't been in the best of conditions himself and was unwilling or unable to give chase. Now that his mind was a little clearer, he realized the the man had seemed a little unsteady on his feet and had even slurred his speech a bit. It pleased him to think that he may have given as good as he got. It took a little of the sting out of running away with his tail between his legs.

Still, it was probably best to avoid a rematch in the immediate future.

* * *

Jiraiya eyes scanned the surrounding trees, waiting for Kisame to return. He needed to be ready for whatever surprise attack the man had in store for him. He would have expected something to happen by now, but he couldn't let his guard down.

"You're letting him get away?" Naruto asked accusing, coming out from behind a tree he'd hidden behind.

"Get away?" Jiraiya parroted in confusion, before his alcohol impaired mind managed to process that and realize how badly he'd just messed up. "Uh ... oops?"

He'd probably waited too long. Tracking was never his best skill, and catching up to a ninja of Kisame's caliber when he had this much of a head start was unlikely at best. Especially as he couldn't seem to remember which direction he'd even run off in now. Thanks to lots of practice, Jiraiya was at the point where he could fight almost as well drunk as sober, but he did have to admit that his mind might not be quite as sharp in the former case. Especially so today, as he may have gotten a little carried away with the drinking. His mind was starting to clear up now as his body purged itself of the influence of the alcohol, but it was a little late for that.

Naruto let out a sigh at his reaction, but then seemed to cheer up. "Well, given that Akatsuki knows you're hear now, I think we should probably head back to Konoha," Naruto suggested. "If we do see them again, it will probably be in force. Besides, if we hurry, we could still catch the finals tomorrow."

"It's true that we probably should leave," Jiraiya agreed, "but I think it's still a bit early to head back to Konoha. Minato kind of wanted you gone a little longer than this."

"Come on," Naruto prodded him. "You pretty much already said you trust me. Now I'd like to see how my sister does, so I'll make a deal with you. You come up with some excuse for why we're back early, and I won't tell the Hokage you let a member of Akatsuki get away because you were drunk."

Jiraiya grimaced at that thought. The boy was really playing dirty. That would be unpleasant enough even if only Minato found out. But it was too much to hope that Kushina wouldn't get wind of it as well, and he did not want to deal with her reaction. And come to think of it, he had a pretty convincing excuse for an early return already thanks to his run-in with Kisame.

"You win," Jiraiya told him. "We'll head back to Konoha. I actually wouldn't mind seeing the finals myself."

"Great," Naruto told him cheerfully, before looking him over, "but are you actually up for traveling?"

"Hah, the day I let a little alcohol slows me down is the day I give up being a ninja," Jiraiya boasted. "Just hold on one moment."

Jiraiya then walked over the side of the road and proceeded to empty his stomach of their contents. "Okay, let's go," he announced upon finishing.

* * *

Naruko walked into the arena where the finals of the Chunin Exams would be taking place. Since she'd waited until right before they were supposed to start, she was surprised to see she that not everyone was there. Perhaps she should have expected it, however, considering she quickly determined that the only person missing was Shikamaru.

Her presence was greeted first by a very smug grin, courtesy of Sasuke. The reason quickly became apparent when she saw the brackets for the tournament. She'd be facing Sasuke in the very first match. Once she beat him, she'd be facing Tenten in the second round. Quickly scanning the rest of the matches, she saw that Ino would be facing her own teammate, Shikamaru, and Hinata was the one person to get a bye despite not having fought in the preliminaries.

Both of them were in the other half of the bracket, so at most, she'd be competing against one of them. She'd prefer it didn't come to that. Naruko had decided she was going to win the whole thing, and she'd rather be avenging her friends than be the one to eliminate them herself. Sasuke, however, she was pleased to be able to remove from the competition so soon. She looked forward to being able to point out the fact that he hadn't won a single match.

"Hey, Naruko," Ino called out to her boisterously. "I hate to say this, but I'm going to have to cheer for Sasuke-kun. Still, put in a good showing and you could still make chunin. I'm sure they'll take into account how amazing Sasuke-kun is."

"I'll be rooting for you, Naruko," Hinata told her, less energetically than Ino, but considering who it was coming from, it was almost as if she'd shouted it.

"Thank you," Naruko told her. "I'm glad at least one of my friends knows a thing or two about loyalty. I may just have to root for Shikamaru in your match, Ino."

"Do whatever you want," she responded nonchalantly. "Shikamaru wouldn't choose to win even if he could. He knows how miserable I'd make his life if he did."

Naruko noticed the genin himself was just entering the arena, looking as if he was almost being dragged there by his sensei. Upon seeing them, the proctor let out a small cough and called them to attention.

"Now that you're all here, I think it's about time to get started," he announced. "We're running slightly behind as it is. So could everyone not participating in the first match please leave the arena?"

"Good luck, Naruko," Hinata told her, as she started walking off.

"Good luck, Sasuke-kun," Ino called out herself before running out.

"A pity your luck is so poor," Sasuke told her, as they were walking off. "You might have had a real shot at second place again if you didn't have to face off against me so soon."

"Go ahead and keep living off your past glories," Naruko fired back, irritated by his words. "You'll find out soon enough that a real fight is different matter entirely from grades."

"Are both of you ready?" the proctor asked, the arena now being clear of all but the three of them. A pair of nods gave him his answer.

"Then begin," he called out loudly.

Naruko saw the sharingan spring up in Sasuke's eyes and quickly averted her own gaze. Minato-sensei had realized she'd probably fight Sasuke at some point and given her plenty of advice on the subject. It was unlikely Sasuke was skilled enough in the use of his dojutsu for a casual glance at his eyes to be dangerous, but it was still wise to look directly into them as little as possible. So she was focusing instead on his hands and legs, watching them for whatever attacks might come.

Sasuke hadn't made a move yet, so Naruko decided to get things going herself. Charging in she tried to nail him with a simple haymaker, hoping the attack would catch him flatfooted coming so soon after the match started. Instead, the other genin dodged nimbly out of the way. She pressed her assault but he continued weaving around her attacks, looking as if doing so took very little effort.

His movements looked oddly familiar too, and with a flash of insight, she realized why. Sasuke was moving just like Lee had in his fight against Kiba. He must have been watching with his sharingan active and copied the style. Meanwhile, she searched her memories to try to figure out what other abilities he might have stolen from the preliminaries to use against her. Thankfully, there hadn't been a lot of high level jutsu thrown around, and she wasn't coming up with much that she had to worry about.

Still, it was clear that she would have to take this fight seriously. Drawing on a bit more chakra, she was not in the least bit pleased to run into a limit on the spiritual side again, even though she was barely above what she was using at the start of the fight. She knew it was inevitable that limit would come down, and since she was still over half of what she'd used when fighting Orochimaru, it was doing so much slower than she'd originally thought it would. Still, it wasn't something she wanted to think about.

She was just grateful that she at least got a chance to put Sasuke in his place before she was really handicapped. She might not have enough chakra for an easy win, but with this much, she was determined to make it work. With the extra bit of chakra, she was able enhance her speed a little more, but Sasuke still had the obvious advantage in that regard. He seemed to relishing that fact as well, not having gone on the offensive, and instead toying with her as they continued their match that had yet to expand beyond taijutsu.

If he wanted to be that way, it suited her just fine though. She'd make him pay for his hubris. Making what appeared to be just another attack, not in any way different from the others, she charged at Sasuke again, sending an open palm strike at his chest. He started to dodge straight back, intending to force her attack to fall short. Having been waiting for that moment, Naruko redoubled her efforts, putting every last bit of energy she could into pressing the attack and pushing off toward him as fast as she could.

To his credit, Sasuke reacted instantly, speeding his own retreat. Naruko watched as the distance between them closed, and it became clear Sasuke would just barely manage to avoid this attack as well, with Naruko's palm falling less than an inch short. But that was more than close enough for her. As her palm reached its closest point, she was already gathering up energy, forming it into the swirling orb Minato-sensei had trained her to make.

"Rasengan!" she called out, risking a glimpse at Sasuke's eyes to see the look of surprise as the rasengan formed and pressed itself into his chest.

In a moment, she felt resistance, and Sasuke's motion away from her was accelerated to unsafe speeds. The force of the blast combined with the spinning of his body caused by the jutsu's rotation prevented him from righting himself before he collided with the arena's wall, cracking it with the force of the impact. Even so, Naruko wasn't about to assume that was enough to take him out, and fired off several blasts of high speed wind at Sasuke, continuing to pummel him. Naruko smiled at the thought of the rather painful reminder he was getting as to who was really the better ninja.

* * *

Gravity hadn't even had a chance to pull him back to the ground when a series of attacks began ramming into his body with enough force to keep him pressed against the wall and send shockwaves of pain through his body. Nevertheless, Sasuke wasn't about to lose this fight before it had even really started, so ignoring the pain, he leaped off from against the wall. Bracing himself against a final hit, he pressed on through it, landing on solid ground and quickly dodging to the side to avoid the stream of attacks.

Having a moment to recuperate now, he took stock of his injuries. He was bruised and battered, but nothing appeared to be broken. Moving was painful now, but to a degree where he could still ignore it. He hated to admit it, but he might have been lucky to come off so easily. That had been an impressive attack. Sasuke could only blame himself for taking it. He'd been enjoying his newfound dominance in taijutsu against Naruko and had assumed he'd just surpassed her completely.

Sasuke should have known better. Naruko had always been good, which wasn't surprising if she really was a hybrid of Uchiha and Namikaze blood as he suspected. And on top of that, she'd been receiving training from the Yondaime. There was no way she'd be a complete pushover. So now he needed to get serious. He did have a sizable advantage in speed. Nor was Naruko the only one with an impressive offense, as she would soon find out.

Quickly going through a set of hand seals, while dodging another one of Naruko's wind blasts, he began rapidly spitting out fireballs and sending them at Naruko. She dodged around the initial volley, but Sasuke was already prepared for that, having sent out another set right to where she'd been dodging. Caught off guard by that, she was forced to deflect one of the fireballs rather than dodging it cleanly.

Sasuke continued to press his attack, feeling more and more confident. Sarutobi-sensei had trained him hard for just this type of situation. When attacking from ranged it was about controlling not only your own movements, but your opponent's as well. With the right pattern of attacks, you could force them to dodge in a certain direction. And if you could get them to dance as you directed, you were halfway to winning the fight already.

Sasuke's advantage in speed made this strategy all the more effective. Naruko would just finish dodging one attack, only to find that Sasuke had been on the move and had positioned himself behind her for another stream of attacks. Occasionally when he saw an opening, he would even dash in for a quick physical attack, always dancing out again before she had the opportunity to use the rasengan. There was no reason to press his luck with that again, not when his strategy was working so well.

Naruko had almost completely given up on offense, having to devote all her efforts to protecting herself. He admitted to being impressed that she was doing as well as she was at it. He'd yet to land anything that could really be considered a solid hit, but he was quickly piling on the number of glancing blows. The damage from them must be starting to wear on her. The small hits would only make it less likely she could continue to dodge so effectively. Sasuke was confident that he just needed a couple of attacks that completely penetrated her defenses to take her out of the fight. It was only a matter of time now.

* * *

Tenten was completely blown away by the fight she was seeing in front of her. She never expected it reach this level.

"I'm so jealous!" Lee said from next to her. "You get to fight whichever one wins that match."

"You may still have a chance," Neji added much more calmly. "The winner will probably still be exhausted from this match, and quite likely injured as well. Still, you should be cautious. Both of them are quite skilled."

"You bet they are!" a new voice added excitedly from behind them.

"Kushina-sama!" Tenten said in surprise at seeing one of her idols present. "What are you doing here?"

"As if I'd miss a chance to boast about Naruko," she said enthusiastically. "She may officially be Minato's student, but I was responsible for a lot of her training myself. You just watch. She'll win this whole thing."

"Don't count out my own students!" Guy practically roared from next to Kushina. "Their flames of youth drive them ever onward!"

Tenten was already tuning Guy out. His words did little to relieve the sting of those that came before them. Especially as they came from Neji and Kushina. Nor could Tenten bring herself to disagree with their assessments. Despite being younger and having less experience, these two were both well beyond her current level of ability. She might be able to come out with a win against them in the tournament, but it was clear to her how things would go against either of them if they were fresh. Was this the benefit of training under a Hokage, or had they always been that good?

Whatever the reason, it bothered Tenten greatly, especially in Naruko's case. She'd come to terms with the fact that Neji surpassed her, but she'd always taken pride in being the best kunoichi of her generation. That was a pride she could no longer indulge herself in. Nevertheless, Tenten wasn't going to take it lying down. Naruko may be better than her now, but that was no guarantee it would always be that way. As distasteful as the thought was, maybe she could learn a thing or two from her teammate, Lee. Perhaps she could overcome the difference through simple hard work. She was determined that at the very least she would try.

* * *

"I admit your student had an impressive start," Sarutobi said from Minato's right, "but it appears Sasuke has all but wrapped things up. The match has become completely one-sided."

"Oh, you mean 'The Professor' hasn't figured out Naruko's strategy yet?" Minato teased. "It's not that she's so overwhelmed she can't attack, she simply chooses not to."

"It is true that Sasuke would almost certainly dodge any attacks sent his way," Sarutobi agreed. "But it would at least break his tempo and give her some breathing room. So what could she be hoping to achieve by holding back? Wait ... she can't actually be hoping to ..."

"Exhaust Sasuke's chakra?" Minato finished for him with a smirk. "I believe that's exactly what she wants to do. Since Sasuke is such a fast target, she probably decided it would be easiest to simply outlast him."

"That's a very difficult strategy to actually employ," Sarutobi responded. "Sasuke's chakra reserves are quite large for his age, and I've trained him well enough that his isn't overly wasteful with them. And most importantly, it relies on her not making any mistakes the entire time."

"I believe she's actually capable of that," Minato boasted proudly. "Naruko has incredible focus. As determined as she is, I honestly don't believe she will slip up, no matter how long the fight lasts."

"It is impressive she's lasted this long already," Sarutobi admitted grudgingly. "Still, she hasn't been able to completely avoid damage. She's done a good job of using her chakra to prevent burns, but that will just make the fireballs hit like a physical blow. Even if she does as well as you claim, at best it comes down to the question of whether Sasuke exhausts his chakra before Naruko succumbs to her injuries."

"This is fascinating," the Kazekage said from Minato's left. "I may not have a student in the match like you two, but I admit I'm completely enthralled nonetheless."

Minato's eyes narrowed in response to the man's statement, but then he forced himself to return his focus to the arena. He could deal with that problem later, for now, he wanted to see how this ended.

* * *

Sasuke cursed himself for a fool. This was the second stupid mistake he'd made this match. He hadn't even realized how much of his chakra reserves he'd depleted until they were almost empty. He just hadn't imagined it would take so long to finish the blonde genin off that it would even become an issue. Could this have even been Naruko's plan from the start? As bad as things looked now, he wasn't about to give up. He'd just have to start using his own brain a little more. If this had been Naruko's plan, perhaps it was time to make her think she'd succeeded.

Plan in mind, he let his sharingan fade. He could ill afford to use the chakra required to keep the dojutsu going, and it would hopefully serve to make Naruko believe he had even less chakra left than he did. Now he stood there defiantly, waiting for Naruko to make her move. She watched him cautiously, not so gullible as he would have liked, but he hadn't seriously expected her to fall for that level of trickery.

Eventually, she did start to close in on him, if in a very erratic manner. Every few steps she was jumping to the side, or even back-stepping, continuing evasive maneuvers, but slowly closing the distance as she did. Throughout it all, Sasuke resisted sending off any attacks. She could keep this up as long as she wanted as far as Sasuke was concerned. It would only give him more time to recover. Finally, she stopped her dancing around and dashed straight at him.

Having been waiting for this, Sasuke quickly went through the hand seals and spat out the largest fireball of the match, briefly obscuring her from his vision. With the same skill she'd been showing the entire match, Sasuke saw her twist out from behind the fireball and avoid it with barely a hairsbreadth to spare. Sasuke dropped to one knee as if he didn't even have the energy to stand anymore.

This time, Naruko took the bait more readily and continued sprinting straight for him. Sasuke waited as long as he dared, even as his instincts were screaming at him to react. Then, when her fist was mere inches from his face, he moved his hands into a seal. It had taken a great deal of work to get to the point where he could use this jutsu with only one seal, but he was glad he'd saved it for this final surprise.

Opening his mouth, he let out a stream of fire that was more powerful than any of the attacks he'd yet used. In addition, he put every last bit of chakra he had left into it. He would only have one shot at this, and he couldn't afford to waste it. Logically, he did know that this was an extremely dangerous attack to be using. But it spoke of how much Naruko had impressed him in this fight that he was convinced she'd somehow survive it without any permanent injuries.

Still, he was completely unprepared for the actual result. Rather then the resistance and backlash of heat he was expecting from hitting the target so close to his face, he felt nothing. In fact, he'd almost thought he'd seen Naruko wink out of existence the moment before the fire had obscured his vision. He barely even registered when a jonin leaped in front of the attack and blocked it to protect the crowd, he was already trying to figure out what had become of Naruko.

It only took him a moment to locate her, and judging from her condition and position, Sasuke knew exactly what had happened. What he'd just fired his last attack at had been an ordinary bunshin. Without his sharingan, he'd never even noticed. The real Naruko had never dodged his final fireball in the first place. Which was why she was now charging at him from the direction he had fired it and with clothes that were almost half burnt off and still sporting small fires in a couple of places.

Sasuke willed himself to defend against the attack, but as drained of chakra as he was, his body just wouldn't move like he wanted it to. He almost couldn't separate in his mind the punch that knocked him flat from the impact of the ground on his back. Still, when his vision cleared he saw Naruko leaning over him with a foot on his chest and a kunai against his neck.

"I suggest you end the fight," she yelled out to the proctor. "He's probably too stubborn to give up himself."

He had ... lost?

* * *

"I believe that's my victory," Minato said cheerfully when Naruko was declared the winner of the match.

"Yes, well, it appears I neglected to impress my student with the importance of taking your opponent seriously," Sarutobi replied gruffly.

"They both fought superbly," the third man announced. "I would love to have either of them as my own student."

Minato glared at him. With the match over he wasn't going to put this off any longer. "I've met with the Kazekage numerous times," he told the man, "and I've never known any sane person to have a strong and sudden change in personalities."

"Yes, Orochimaru," Sarutobi added. "What exactly is it you're after?"

So, it was Orochimaru himself? Minato should have figured that to be the case.

"What, I can't simply be here to enjoy the tournament?" he inquired.

Having probably sensed the chakra being given off around his 'Kazekage' thanks to the growing tension, the jonin sensei of the Suna team appeared in front of the group in a flash.

"What's going on here?" he asked.

"Well, I suppose I'll answer you honestly," Orochimaru said to Sarutobi, ignoring the intruder. "Suna intends to attack Konoha."

"Kazekage-sama!" he cried out in surprise. "What are you saying?"

"Don't worry though," Orochimaru continued, leaping to his feet and knifing his hand straight into the jonin, sending it through his chest and out the other side. "I plan to help you."

* * *

"Baki-sensei!" Temari cried out, watching the scene occurring in front of her eyes in horror. "Why would father do that?"

She started to run toward the man to find out just that but found a hand latched onto her from behind. Gaara's she realized with a start. Kankuro was frozen as stiff as if he was one of his own puppets abandoned in his seat.

"He's already dead," Gaara said. "If you go you may end up the same way. Look."

That almost sounded like concern. Even with how much calmer he'd been this past month, she was still so surprised that it took her a moment to look at where he was pointing. When she did, however, Gaara's words were almost completely erased from her mind. All around her the ninja they'd planted in the arena were fighting with their supposed allies from Oto. Well, those of them that were still alive were. It looked as if the majority of them had been slain before they even realized what was going on.

On top of that, the Konoha ninja weren't sitting idle. While they were confused as to what to do regarding to the two fighting factions, a number of them were gathering around the three siblings. More than one she recognized from her preparations for this mission as being very dangerous individuals and beyond her skill to deal with. Maybe Gaara could do something if he were to transform.

"We surrender," Gaara announced, speaking for them.

Well, there went that idea. Temari just wished she new what was going on.

* * *

Naruto saw the gates of Konoha drawing closer in front of him. This wasn't quite the triumphant return he'd hoped for. As much as he wanted to blame Jiraiya's drunken behavior on letting Kisame escape, he was partially responsible as well. He hadn't been prepared for Kisame to wake up so soon, but thinking it over he realized what must have happened. That sword of his had the ability to absorb chakra. It had probably devoured much of his attack before being overwhelmed, greatly lessening the effect on its master. Whatever the reason, Kisame was gone.

"Ah, it's good to be home," Jiraiya announced. "I'm going to go report to Minato what happened. Just try to stay out of trouble, seeing as I'm sticking my neck out for you."

"Believe me, I have no plans to start anything," Naruto assured him.

Nodding, Jiraiya picked up his pace and hurried into the village. Naruto took a more leisurely approach. The finals may already have started, but that had been more of an excuse to Naruto than a real worry. Oh he'd like to see them, but it wasn't worth racing through the village just to possibly catch a few more minutes of it. Walking along, Naruto had barely passed into the village when he sensed fighting nearby. Curious as to what was going on, he hurried over to source, hiding himself on the roof of a building and looking on as two sets of foreign ninja fought.

Not knowing what was going on, Naruto continued merely observing the ensuing battle. It looked as if there had been ten on each side to start, but half the Suna ninja were already dead while the Oto ninja still had their full contingent.

"Traitors!" one of the Suna ninja yelled out. "Our enemy is Konoha. When your leader hears of this you're all dead."

"Sorry to tell you this, but our boss is the one who changed the plan," an Oto-nin replied, as one of his companions snuck up behind the distracted Suna man and stabbed him in the back, leaving it four versus ten."

"I surrender," one of the remaining four called out, apparently not liking the odds. His companions soon followed suit as they all dropped their weapons and held up their hands. Their opponents all looked to the Oto-nin who had spoken earlier, the man apparently being their leader.

"Kill them," he ordered without hesitation.

Naruto wasn't entirely sure why he acted. It was the Suna ninja who were apparently the enemies of Konoha, and this had little to do with him regardless. Perhaps he simply wanted some form of atonement for all those centuries ago when he'd killed without quarter even those who had begged for mercy. Whatever the reason, he landed between the two sides.

"They've surrendered. Let them be," he ordered.

"Perhaps you don't know this, but we're on your side," one of the Oto-nin informed him, probably assuming he was one of Konoha's ninja.

"My order stands," the leader declared. "If he tries to stop you, then kill him too."

Now it was personal. Not giving them a chance to even prepare, Naruto bowled into the group of ninja, almost looking like a whirlwind as he weaved through them tossing bodies every which way. When he came out on the other side, not one of them were standing, although several quickly returned to their feet and a couple more were shakily attempting to join them. The four Suna ninja looked on in confusion, probably trying to decide if they should help him or not. If they came to a decision, Naruto would probably never know, as all remaining ninja on both sides suddenly collapsed to the ground. Spinning around Naruto looked warily at the man he knew had caused it.

"So you've returned, Itachi," he declared to the other man. Itachi stood there in his Akatsuki cloak calmly gazing at Naruto.

"There are too many eyes on Konoha right now," Itachi told him. "Some of them it would be best if you didn't catch. I suggest you not get involved in this matter any further."

"Why should I listen to you?" Naruto asked. "You still haven't explained anything to me."

"There isn't time now," Itachi answered. "However, I have arranged for the leader of my organization to meet with you very shortly. All your questions will be answered then."

Whether his claim about there not being time was true or simply an excuse, Itachi certainly left in a hurry. Naruto grumbled to himself about the whole meeting. Still, as much as he disliked being left in the dark, it might not be wise to completely ignore the advice. That didn't mean Naruto was actually going to avoid getting involved, but he'd be a bit more discreet about it. Using a henge, he disguised himself as a random man he vaguely remembered meeting a few centuries back. Certainly no one anyone else alive today would recognize.

Leaving the fallen ninja, he began searching around the village. Although his efforts were mostly in vain. While the fighting had been pretty widespread, it didn't seem to have lasted long. The surprise attack by Oto against their allies had left Suna's forces in disarray, and once Konoha's ninja had figured out what was going on, they'd been able to quickly mop up. No one from Konoha seemed to like Oto being present, but Naruto hadn't found any fighting since his meeting with Itachi.

With the current situation resolved to Naruto's satisfaction, his mind wandered back to Itachi. Just what did Itachi want with him? Who was this leader and how did they find out so much about Naruto? And just how soon was this supposed meeting? Well, there wasn't much Naruto could do besides wait and see.

* * *

Mere moments after Sasuke's humiliating loss, everything had turned to chaos. Even as exhausted as he was, Sasuke had slipped out of the arena with a destination in mind. He didn't know what was going on, and he may not be in much shape to help, but at the very least he wanted to ensure his mother hadn't been dragged into the mess. She'd been ill the last few days with a very nasty cold. It had taken a great deal of effort just to convince her to stay in bed rather than come watch the finals anyway. He could very easily see his mother getting herself involved even as sick as she was, and it worried him greatly.

As he was nearing the Uchiha Compound, he saw someone he certainly hadn't been expecting to. Itachi leaped into the center of a busy street, being pursued by seven other Uchiha clan members. The civilians scattered, but some of the braver ones stayed close enough to gawk at the spectacle.

"First you betray your clan, and now you do the same to your village?" one of the Uchiha accused him. "We'll make you pay this time."

They were accusing his brother of betraying the village? One of the men had even been present that night as a child when Sasuke found out his father was dead. Their conversation sounded much more like betrayal of the village than anything he'd ever heard from his brother.

"Itachi!" Sasuke called out to his brother. "What's going on here?"

Before Sasuke even knew what was happening, Itachi was behind him, holding a kunai to his throat. "Back off or the boy dies," Itachi yelled at them.

"Killing your father isn't enough," came the reply, "now you want to kill your own brother too?"

None of this made any sense. Itachi would never harm him. Something had to be going on here. Knowing it wasn't the most advisable thing to do, Sasuke nevertheless used what little chakra his body had recovered since the fight to activate his sharingan. What he saw gave him a clue as to situation. Using the sharingan, one could detect the influence of another sharingan if they knew what to look for. All seven of Itachi's opponents shone to such a degree they must practically be under the complete control of one. Could Itachi actually be making them act like this? If so, why was he doing it?

"Tell no one of this," Itachi ordered softly enough that only Sasuke could hear while looking down at him. With his sharingan active, Sasuke realized immediately that Itachi was also putting him under a genjutsu while he spoke. He struggled against it, but as exhausted as he was there was nothing he could do as the effect caused him to quickly grow tired. A second later everything went black.

* * *

With everything in the village as settled as it could be considering Orochimaru's men were still spread all around Konoha, Minato and Sarutobi sat in his office with the man himself, who was no longer disguised as the Kazekage. Jiraiya had all but demanded to be here as well, but Minato couldn't trust him to keep a level head in this situation. Besides, they needed as many people as possible keeping an eye on all the foreign shinobi.

"Now, perhaps you can explain what this is all about," Minato began. "We have no shortage of sworn statements from captured combatants that you were behind everything. You approached Suna with this plan and also stirred up the trouble with the Uchiha."

"Of course I did," Orochimaru admitted openly. "They'd hardly have listened if you sent Jiraiya to suggest it. It was the perfect trap to gather your enemies together and eliminate them. You should be thanking me."

"Even if this were something deserving of thanks, what type of gratitude were you looking for," Sarutobi asked suspiciously.

"Just because I was chased out of the village doesn't mean I can't still think fondly of it," Orochimaru declared playfully. "I can't simply do this out of the goodness of my heart? Although, now that you mention it, there is one tiny little thing I wouldn't mind if it isn't too much of a bother."

"And what exactly is that?" Minato questioned, still unable to fathom what was going on in the man's head. Did he really think they would just give him anything he asked for, no matter how 'tiny' it was?

"Oh, it's nothing really," Orochimaru said casually. "I only really ask out of courtesy, but I'm curious to meet this supposed son of yours. What was his name? Naruto? Yes, I believe that sounds right. I'd like for your to arrange a meeting for me with Naruto."

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Okay I'm still being a bit slow on chapters, but at least you got a nice big one this time. I hope you like the fact that the plot is really moving now too. More of that to come.


	12. Chapter 12

"I'd like for your to arrange a meeting for me with Naruto."

Minato had not been prepared for such a request from Orochimaru. Even now, Minato couldn't figure out what he hoped to gain from it, or why he would even bother to ask in the first place. Even so, the fact that he did made Minato inclined to refuse him.

"You must realize that nothing you've done has won my trust," Minato replied. "The only favor you're likely to get for your help is for you and your men to be allowed to leave unharmed. Push your luck too far and you may not even get that much. They've already overstayed their welcome, so I suggest you worry more about your exit plan than arranging meetings with my relatives."

"I feel I should take offense at your lack of civility," Orochimaru told him. "Yet I can't help but feel a certain respect for you. As long as my own forces remain here as a risk to your people, you can't seem to focus on anything else. I only hope that someday I might have half as much concern for my men as you do for yours."

Minato tightened his fist at that, resisting the urge to attack him. He could easily read between the lines and see the implied threat. Orochimaru didn't care what happened to the Oto forces. Even knowing he couldn't win, Minato believed him that he wouldn't hesitate to order an attack. Such an attack may be doomed to failure, but the casualties would not be insignificant, and could easily extend to civilians. But why was he making such a big deal over what seemed a small issue?

"Orochimaru loves his mind games," Sarutobi told him, obviously seeing his distress. "He may not even care about the meeting in the first place."

The Sandaime did know Orochimaru better than he did, and it seemed he thought Minato should agree to the terms. Then again, the fact he didn't go so far as to actually suggest it wasn't very comforting. He was leaving the ultimate decision in Minato's lap. Still, Orochimaru had them backed into a neat little corner on this issue. No matter how he looked at it, it simply wasn't worth the risk of denying him.

"Very well," Minato answered. "Remove your forces from city. Once they're gone, I'll see about fulfilling your request."

"Of course," Orochimaru agreed, smiling openly. "I'm glad we could work things out."

* * *

Naruto hadn't been back home for long when he got a visitor he hadn't been expecting. He'd assumed it would only be a matter of time before Minato got in touch with him, but the Hokage had always had Naruto dragged to him rather than visiting himself. He just hoped that wasn't a bad sign.

"I know things have been crazy, but Jiraiya did meet up with you and tell you why we're back, right?" Naruto queried.

"Yes," Minato answered, "and we will discuss that eventually, but that's not what I'm here for. I'm here because Orochimaru has requested to speak with you, and I'd like to know why."

"I don't know," Naruto answered honestly, surprised to hear that. "He didn't give any indication of that himself?"

"Not that I would trust his word even if he did," Minato told him. "Nevertheless, I have agreed to his request."

"Excuse me?" Naruto said in confusion. It was clear from Minato's whole demeanor that he didn't trust Naruto. Orochimaru must have more than ruined whatever goodwill Jiraiya's report may have earned him. So why was he allowing this to go through at all?

"We've already arranged for everything," Minato continued. "I should warn you, however, that it's in your own best interest not to believe a word he has to say. When you're finished, I expect a report of everything he had to say."

"Whatever you think may be going on, I have no connection to the man," Naruto assured him. "I'm as interested as you are to hear what he has to say, and I don't see any reason I won't be able to repeat it."

Hopefully he wouldn't catch the lie in that last part. Naruto could actually think of quite a few things he wouldn't reveal to the Yondaime if Orochimaru had somehow become of aware of them. If Minato had caught on, though, he kept that knowledge to himself.

"Very well," Minato responded. "Follow me."

Leaving the building, he saw that the sun had just finished setting, and it was nearly full dark by the time his guide led him to a small building in central Konoha. The facility wouldn't have looked at all suspicious it weren't for the half a dozen masked men guarding the perimeter. No, they wouldn't let a man like Orochimaru go unsupervised.

"He's already inside," Minato told him. "And whether you're working with him or not, I suggest you be careful. He's a very dangerous man."

Naruto nodded politely. At least Minato was kind enough to offer him the warning despite his lack of trust for Naruto. Nevertheless, his safety wasn't Naruto's primary concern at the moment. That much at least he believed he could take care of. So he opened the door and entered, feeling himself pass through some sort of barrier just a couple of feet inside. That was most likely to prevent eavesdropping, a fact that would surely displease those outside. The only furnishing in the the one-room building was a small round table with two chairs next to it. One of them was already occupied by Orochimaru.

"It's nice to see you again," the pale man greeted him. "Please do take a seat. As much fun as our last encounter was, I was hoping to limit any sparring to the verbal variety this time."

Naruto complied with his request, eager to find out what this was about. "You're the one who started this," Naruto declared when he was seated, "so why don't you tell me what you want?"

"Well, you do recall I had some interest in the Red Demon of legend," he answered. "It seems my source for Minato's DNA was off in that regard. I guess my mistake was looking in graves in the first place. I hadn't considered he could still be alive. Perhaps even ... right in front of my eyes."

Naruto had to work hard to suppress how annoyed he was at hearing that claim. How did everyone seem to find out so much about him? "You think I'm a figure right out of a centuries old fairy tale?" Naruto asked. "Even if something as ridiculous as that is true, what's your motivation for calling me here? Just fulfilling a childhood goal?"

"I know for certain that you're much older than you appear," Orochimaru replied. "And you're very closely related to the body I dug up in his old home. It seems obvious what that means. Regardless, I hardly care whether you're him or not. I'm more interested in what you've learned in all that time. Especially how you lived so long in the first place."

Simple lust for immortality, huh? Naruto wasn't terribly surprised. He'd met very spiritual men who nonetheless gained an almost obsessive interested in how Naruto stayed young while they continued to age. Most of them were fairly elderly to begin with, and seeing their lives nearing their end had driven more than one person to rather extreme methods of trying to learn his secret. Naruto could tell Orochimaru exactly what he had them. Living this long was hardly the blessing it might seem, and he couldn't duplicate his eternal youth even if he wanted to. That said, he doubted the man would believe it any more than they had.

"And why exactly would I want to teach you anything?" Naruto asked, giving up on trying to deny who he was.

"Because I'd be willing to offer much in exchange," Orochimaru answered. "I have extensive knowledge of my own I'd be willing to share. In fact, I already have my own way to extend my life indefinitely. There are just some rather unpleasant side effects at the moment. I'm hoping your method might be somewhat better. I'd also like to think we could continue to work together beyond the initial exchange. I'm certain you can see the benefit in that."

"You shouldn't be so sure," Naruto countered. "You're not the first person to request I work with them. Akatsuki has been after me as well, and I've been turning them down."

For the first time since they met, Orochimaru's smile faltered, the news about Akatsuki seeming to have caught him off guard. However, he quickly recovered, now trying twice as hard to appear charming as before. Although Naruto wasn't sure charming was even possible coming from the man in front of him. Predatory, calculating, and even just plain creepy he could do, but charming was a bit of a stretch.

"You're wise to have turned them down," he told Naruto. "I was actually in Akatsuki for some time myself. Their leader is a man named Uchiha Madara. He's another person to have dipped into the secrets of immortality. He was happy to dangle promises of the knowledge in front of me while he made use of my skills, but they always came up dry in the end. If you trust the man you'll likely end up the same. Giving much and getting nothing in return."

So, Uchiha Madara was in charge? The man who had been trying to subvert the Kyubi to his will? At the very least he'd just gotten some useful information out of this. He was right not trust Akatsuki. Of course he didn't have any more trust for the man in front of him.

"Even so, why should I expect you'd be any better?" Naruto asked harshly.

"Perhaps because I've already done you a rather large favor," Orochimaru suggested. "Before I'd learned of your existence, I'd planned to aid Suna in conquering Konoha. I threw away years of planning and my personal feelings on the matter just because I reasoned it might interfere with whatever plan brings you here. I believe that's proof of how far I'm willing to go to make this work."

"And yet you then chose to publicly ask to see me," Naruto fired back, voicing something that had been bothering him for a while now. "A ninja of your caliber could have easily met with me in secret. Yet you chose this path, casting a great deal of suspicion on me in the process. The only reason I can think of for doing that is if that's exactly the result you wanted. It's going to be much harder to continue on as I was, which you would hope would make me more inclined to accept your offer."

"You can't blame me for wanting to stack the deck in my favor," Orochimaru responded unapologetically. "If there's something you really hope to accomplish, I'm sure you can still smooth things over. I just think I have more to offer you anyway. I'll even give you the basics of my side of the exchange first as a good will gesture."

"What exactly is it you were going to offer?" Naruto asked. He wasn't planning to accept the trade, but he was still curious as to what jutsu Orochimaru thought would entice him.

"Almost anything you'd like," Orochimaru answered. "I have extensive knowledge ranging from barriers to cursed seals and even raising the dead."

Hardly realizing he'd done so, Naruto stood up, wide eyed at the last one.

"Ah yes," Orochimaru said, clearly pleased at the reaction he'd received, "it's only to be expected that someone who's lived as long as you have would have people he'd like to see again."

Forcing himself to sit back down, Naruto tried futilely to calm himself. "You can really bring back the dead?" Naruto asked unable to completely hide the hopefulness in his voice.

"As good as new," Orochimaru insisted. "All their memories and personality intact and looking exactly as you remember them. So, I take it you're interested?"

"I ... I'll think about it," Naruto said weakly, still almost in shock from the proposition.

He didn't trust Orochimaru, and he didn't want to work with him, but if this was true it was simply too much. How much work had he been putting in just hoping for scraps and ideas that he might be able to modify to some day be together again with Hanabi. Now here was someone offering an ability that would do exactly that? As much as his pride was forcing him to claim he hadn't made up his mind, he was already certain what his decision would be. Nor did it look like the other man had any trouble figuring that out.

"Well, if you've reached a decision by then, you can meet me here at noon tomorrow," Orochimaru said, showing him a map of Konoha and the area immediately around it with an X drawn on it a short distance from the village. After he'd given Naruto time to memorize it, the map vanished as quickly as it had appeared. "I hope to see you then."

With that the barrier fell and Orochimaru walked out the door. Minato was already looking in on him mere moments after the man had left.

"What did he have to say?" he demanded from Naruto.

"I'm afraid I'll be no more help to you than I was to him," Naruto answered, coming up with a story on the fly. "He mostly asked questions about you. What I knew about you. What our relationship was like. Honestly, I knew little and told him less. I'm not sure what he hoped to accomplish though, he didn't seem terribly interested in the questions himself."

"That was all he talked about?" Minato asked suspiciously. "There was nothing else?"

"Look," Naruto responded. "I don't like the man. Even ignoring his criminal history and other things, he just rubs me the wrong way. If you want to go after him and arrest him or worse, I wouldn't stop you. Now if you insist, I can write you up exactly what he said to the best of my memory, but I assure you, none of it would be of any use to you."

"Very well," Minato nodded. "I actually would like a transcript if you could oblige. Please include anything you remember that's at all noteworthy about his behavior or reactions. You might be surprised by what we'd find useful."

"That shouldn't be a problem," Naruto assured him, as he turned to leave, grateful that no one tried to stop him. And he was right that is shouldn't be a problem. If all went well tomorrow, he'd have no need to come up with a phony report at all. It bothered Naruto a little that in a way he'd be proving Minato had been right all along to mistrust him. That said, it's not as if he planned to do anything that would really be harmful to Konoha, and he should be out of his hair soon enough. No, this turn of events was too good to be worrying over such things.

He really did try to dampen his hopes in case he was being deceived, but it was a lost cause from the start. Just think, it might be less than a day until he was reunited with Hanabi.

* * *

Naruko certainly hadn't expected the day to be anywhere near as eventful as it had turned out to be. There had actually been a full scale, if brief, invasion attempt right in the middle of Konoha. She hadn't personally gotten to do much. Given two Hokages and who knew how many jonin were in the area, not to mention Orochimaru and his forces helping for some reason, the fighting around her had stopped almost instantly.

She had mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, she'd wanted to help. On the other, she wasn't exactly in the best condition for it after fighting Sasuke. Also, since all her friends had either been participating or spectating, they'd been in about the safest part of the city. As such, she'd been quickly able to confirm they were all fine.

She'd heard there'd been minimal casualties in Konoha, which was great, considering. And to top it off, Naruto was supposed to be back in town. She'd really been beginning to worry. Her memories from Naruto had faded so much that it was difficult for her to make any progress on her problem. She'd saved as much of knowledge that would help her as she could before it faded away, but even that was now more like something she'd just read once in a book rather than the deep understanding of the topic she knew Naruto would still have.

Anyway, he was back, and she had all her notes ready to give him. Now if he would just show up. She'd already been waiting in his place for over half an hour. Was he actually back in the village or not? Thankfully, she didn't have to wait much longer before Naruto arrived, looking almost freakishly happy about something.

"Finally," she said upon him entering. "I have something important to discuss with you."

"I think you'll forget all about it when I tell you my news," Naruto quickly replied. "I believe I've actually found a way to bring Hanabi back to life."

"What?" Naruko cried out in shock, her annoyance at Naruto's dismissal vanishing instantly. "Where did you find something like that?"

"From a very unlikely source," Naruto answered. "Orochimaru is going to be teaching me how at noon tomorrow."

Naruko's own excitement quickly froze at response. "Oh really," she said icily. "Out of the goodness of his heart?"

"No, he wants a trade of course," Naruto answered. "What he's really interested in is how I stay young. Of course I can't help him with that since it's simply a side effect of my connection to the Biju. But he offered to show me his ability first, so I can cross that bridge when it comes."

"As much as I like the idea of Orochimaru being the one backstabbed, what's to say he doesn't change his mind?" Naruko asked. "If he demands payment first do you have it in you to refuse to give him anything?"

"And why should I?" Naruto answered, actually looking confused by the question. "I can't give him what he wants, but I'm sure there's something I could come up with he'd accept as payment. He even expressed interest in learning what else I knew."

"You should refuse because he's a murderer and a madman," Naruko snapped back, angered but his response despite having anticipated it. "Anything you teach him, he's sure to put to use, and nothing good will come from that."

"You worry too much," Naruto said dismissively. "He's one man. Also, once I get what I want, there won't be any need for me to hide anything. I can give Konoha all the same information and more. That should more than make up for it."

"And it would be even better if you did all that and yet didn't tell Orochimaru a thing," Naruko insisted. "That's something you should probably should have done some time ago."

"What? I should have broken my cover?" Naruto queried. "You were the one who complained about the book."

"Only because you didn't think it through," Naruko told him in exasperation. "If we thought it out together, we could come up with a way to leave them the information such that it couldn't be traced back to you."

"I'm beginning to think you would prefer I ignore this opportunity completely," Naruto exclaimed, clearly having trouble believing that would be the case.

"Oh, you realized that?" Naruko said sarcastically. "Your powers of perception are truly awe inspiring today."

"You know, perhaps you're starting to get a little _too_ attached to Konoha," Naruto accused her. "I believe it's clouding your judgment."

Naruto had been aggravating her pretty much since the start of the conversation, but that last comment had left her in a fury. "I'm the one with clouded judgment?" she asked. "Just because I've actually moved on, made friends, and found people I care about again? Instead of living your life, you've spent half a millennium obsessing over Hanabi. You want clouded judgment? Whenever she's in the picture you're the very epitome of clouded judgment."

"Now see here ..." Naruto growled out, his face quickly taking on an anger that matched Naruko's own. But Naruko cut him off before he could finish his thought.

"No, you see here," she shouted. "You think Hanabi would be happy to know you're willing to help men like Orochimaru just to see her again? And for all you know she might not even want to come back. Maybe unlike you, she's moved on and is happy right where she is."

Naruko knew she'd gone too far even before Naruto's eyes turned to ice. That last bit had been uncalled for, but she was still too ticked off to take any of it back.

"If she is happy where she is that I won't stop her from returning," Naruto said coldly, although Naruko could easily see the pain that thought caused him. "However, since I have no way of communicating with her where she is, I'm going to have to bring her back to give her that choice. Now unless you know someone else who can teach me the same ability, I **am** going to Orochimaru and nothing you say will convince me otherwise."

"I don't need to convince you," Naruko fired back. "I can just tell Minato-sensei what you're planning and he'll put a stop to it."

"There are two things I'd consider carefully before I did that," Naruto said, his face looking as if he were seriously considering ending her existence right there. "First, I'm determined to meet with Orochimaru, and even if he can delay me, it's unlikely he can stop me from doing so completely. Second, if you even try I'll reveal your origins. We can see how much the people you care about reciprocate those feelings when they realize you've been playing them for fools all this time."

Naruko gasped at that. Naruto wouldn't actually carry out that threat would he? He was bluffing, or simply lashing out because he was angry. Although as furious as he obviously was, maybe he would actually do it out of spite. Naruko wished her memories were clearer on the subject, but she couldn't say for certain one way or the other. And the thought of him going through with it terrified her. It wouldn't matter if she lived or not if all her friends hated her. As the thought ran through her mind she visibly wilted, which Naruto must have taken to mean he'd won.

"I'll give Orochimaru as little aid as possible," he said, not having completely cleared the anger from his voice despite the kinder words. "But that's all I can promise."

Naruko sent him one more glare to show what she thought of that before running out of the building. She realized she'd never gotten around to discussing trying to save her life, but she actually did had something she considered more important at the moment. How exactly did she want to live it? Naruko didn't have an answer to that yet, and with the noon deadline, she had less than a day to come up with one.

* * *

Sasuke had woken in his own home, apparently having been carried there by another clan member. Thankfully his mother was fine, and appeared to be recovering well from whatever bug she'd had. The rest had certainly been good for her, and Sasuke probably felt worse than she did thanks to his match in the finals. Admitting to his mother that he'd lost had been humiliating, but there were larger concerns. He'd been able to get some answers to what had happened and had been able to piece together much of the rest, but he didn't like any of it.

Officially some of the Uchiha had aided Suna in their attack on Konoha, with others remaining loyal. Nearly one in ten members of the clan had perished in the fighting and more than a third were currently imprisoned for their role in the treachery. Not many of them were likely to be cleared of charges, and when all was said and done, the number of living, free Uchiha looked like it would be cut in half.

Still sticking to the official report, it was Itachi who had lead the anti-Konoha Uchiha. Sasuke, however, knew better than that. Itachi was taking the fall to save the clan. He'd defeated some clan members and trapped them in genjutsu to provide 'proof' of them fighting for Konoha. Sasuke was sure there were plenty of others who were latching onto that excuse now that they'd failed simply because there were no witnesses to their treacherous acts. In fact Sasuke was convinced now that Itachi's actions were much the same as they'd been when his father died.

Sasuke hadn't wanted to admit it, but Itachi really had killed him. Still, it was his father that had been the traitor, not Itachi. Now his brother was sacrificing himself again to save a clan that didn't deserve it. But what could Sasuke do about it? He was under no illusion that his words alone would get Itachi pardoned, although they might get more of his clan arrested. Really, as good as that petty act might feel, what would it accomplish? It'd be undoing everything Itachi had worked for.

No, Sasuke may not be able to bring himself to move against his own clan, but there was one person he wouldn't hesitate to harm in any way he could. Orochimaru. Hearing the way the name was cursed throughout the compound was all he needed to see the truth through the official story. It was Orochimaru who had convinced the clan to rebel in the first place only to stab them in the back. If it weren't for him, none of this would have happened, and Itachi might still have some hope of a pardon.

The more he thought about it, the more he loathed the man. Yes, if Sasuke couldn't have his brother back, the next best thing would be to see Orochimaru pay for his crimes.

* * *

Naruko saw the sun rising through her apartment window, but despite a sleepless night she still didn't know what to do. If anything she was more confused then ever. One of the things Naruto had said had really struck her. She _had_ been deceiving her friends for years. Thanks to her night of introspection, she knew she really did consider them friends now, and as such wanted to stop lying to them. But how _would_ they react? Thoughts of that had been whirling through her head all night, but she knew that she was down to just a few hours to answer the more urgent question. Was she going to try to stop Naruto?

When it came right down to it, that question could be rephrased as 'did she want to pretend to be a ninja of Konoha or actually be one?' After all that had happened recently she knew the answer to that to be the latter. And a real ninja of Konoha would put the good of the village ahead of their own personal good. So some way or another she had to stop Naruto. That decided, she still wondered if there were an easier way than telling Minato-sensei of his plans.

Despite their heated argument, she didn't really wish him ill. Not to mention that she pretty much needed his help to live. So getting him chased out of the village or worse wasn't the way she wanted to go about it. And given that Minato-sensei was the Hokage, she knew he would feel obliged to try to stop Naruto for the good of Konoha. Also, she doubted Minato would even be able to prevent Naruto and Orochimaru from meeting up. In addition, Naruto might go through with his threat to out her, and she didn't know how to prepare for that.

Still, she had no idea what else she could do. She'd already failed to talk him out of his plan once, and saw no chance of a second attempt succeeding. What she really needed right now was some advice, but most of the people she would normally go to were out. Minato-sensei and Naruto for obvious reasons. She might be able to convince Kushina-sensei or one of her friends to help her try to talk Naruto down, but she couldn't see any of them having a real chance to do so. Not to mention that telling them she was worried about Naruto revealing one of her secrets would give away the fact that she was hiding something in the first place.

Actually, Naruko suddenly realized there was one person that might be able to give her some good advice. He wasn't the type of person she would normally go to for such matters, but he might be just what she needed for this unique situation. She only hoped she could find him in time.

* * *

Shikamaru was lounging around on the couch. He'd been hoping for a way to get out of fighting yesterday, but the manner in which it had happened had been even worse than the fight would have been. At least it had turned out pretty well for Konoha. Still, he didn't feel much like doing anything today.

As such, he groaned when there was a loud knock on the door. Glancing at the clock he realized he was only a couple minutes late for morning training with his team. He had let himself lose track of the time, but did Ino really have to come banging on his door this quickly? Maybe if he ignored it she would think he'd already left and give up.

"Shikamaru, I know you're in there," a voice he hadn't been expecting called out. "You can either let me in or I'll let myself in."

Shikamaru had no clue what Naruko was doing here, but this blonde may prove even more troublesome than Ino would have. Sighing he got up and slowly made his way to the door, as he didn't think Naruko was bluffing about letting herself in. When he did open the door he quickly noticed how distraught his former classmate looked. Despite himself, Shikamaru was beginning to become a bit concerned himself.

"What's this about, Naruko?" he asked, motioning her inside as she had frozen in place once the door actually opened.

"It's about Naruto," she began after entering his house.

Ah, had he finally talked to her as Shikamaru had recommended? That could certainly explain her current behavior.

"He plans to trade Orochimaru some of his knowledge and I couldn't talk him out of it," she continued, disproving his theory.

"Let me guess, you still hope to stop him without actually getting him in trouble?" Shikamaru asked, rubbing his forehead as if to ward off a headache he was sure would soon be forming.

"He really is a good person," Naruko assured him. "It's just that Orochimaru claims to be able to bring back the dead."

If that's what Orochimaru had reeled him in with, Shikamaru didn't know how Naruko expected anyone to talk him out of it. Nor would he even consider trying until he had a few questions answered.

"So what else is going on?" Shikamaru inquired. "We hardly know each other. If this was all there was to it, you wouldn't have come to me."

Just saying the words seemed to make her even more miserable than before. This whole situation was starting to pique even his normally elusive curiosity.

"It's just that Naruto knows a secret about me he threatened to reveal if I told anyone what he was planning," Naruko explained. "And you already know part of the story so ..."

Shikamaru tried to wait for her to continue. It was obvious she intended to tell him what that secret was, but she was having difficulty working up the courage. As the silence dragged on though, his patience began to wear thin and he decided to give her a little push.

"There's only so much help I can give you if you don't explain what that secret is," he said dryly. His words had the desired effect as her face tightened into a look of resolve.

"It's just that Naruto isn't my father like you thought, he actually created me with a jutsu," Naruko blurted out quickly, hardly pausing as she continued "Officially I was four when I was brought into Konoha, but the day before that I didn't even exist. My mission has always been to learn whatever jutsu I can from Konoha and pass it on to Naruto."

Shikamaru was about as shellshocked as he'd ever been. When she said he had a secret about her, he didn't expect anything of this magnitude. If that were true, the work was nothing short of astonishing. Sure Naruko had always been a bit odd, but he wouldn't even have considered her the strangest of his classmates.

And Shikamaru knew medical exams were required for all ninja, so she must have passed them somehow. Even knowing Naruto could count his life in centuries, it was hard to imagine anyone actually creating another human like that. Maybe he'd just placed some girl under a very strong genjutsu to make her believe that instead. Either way, it was a frightening thought.

"So, you're a spy?" Shikamaru asked, watching her much more warily than before, now unsure of how she would react. His mind was already going through plans of how to deal with her if things got violent, but after seeing what she was capable of just yesterday, none of his plans instilled him with much confidence. His best bet was to hope to make enough noise to attract some attention.

"I wasn't really a spy," she insisted. "Naruto isn't affiliated with anyone and neither of us ever meant Konoha any harm. He was just eager to learn, and Konoha doesn't exactly make all their knowledge open to the public."

Shikamaru may have become more than a little frightened of Naruko since her revelation, but looking her over, it was clear she was absolutely terrified of him. Or more accurately, of how he would react. Realizing this caused him to relax, silently berating himself for being foolish. There was no way the girl in front of him meant him any harm. Even if he considered the possibility of some genjutsu buried in her subconscious that would take over, if it was willing kill him to keep this secret from getting out, why would it let her tell him in the first place? No, he should be focusing on helping her with her dilemma right now.

"So, you want to stop Naruto without killing or imprisoning him," Shikamaru began to summarize. "And you don't want this secret of yours to become public knowledge."

"Yes," she confirmed. "My friends, Konoha, and my life here, they all mean a lot to me now, and I don't want to lose them."

"Well, I can try to help you with Naruto, but I don't know how successful that will be," Shikamaru explained, not wanting to raise her hopes too high. "On the other hand, I think you're worrying too much about your secret getting out. You'll have to tell the Hokage of course, but I'm confident he'll support you. The fact you chose Konoha over Naruto like this should erase any doubts he might have. Even if a few people hear it from Naruto, he'll be able to keep it from spreading to your friends."

"That's just it, I'm not sure that's what I want," Naruko declared, almost falling in on herself in her depression. "I don't want them to find out, but I don't want to keep deceiving them either. What should I do?"

"I would suggest you don't tell them," Shikamaru told her, barely needing a moment's thought to answer that one.

"What?" she said in surprise, even seeming to snap out of her despondency. "Aren't you supposed to tell me to do the right thing or something?"

"If you just want to be able to pat yourself on the back for having stuck to some moral code, you don't need my advice in the first place," he answered. "But you'll have to make that decision yourself. I'm not going to give you the push you want. And if you want to know why, then tell me, all that stuff you did with your friends all these years, was it just an act to further your goals?"

"Hey," Naruko replied in annoyance. "I wasn't going around calculating every little move I made to see how it would benefit me."

"Maybe not, but for the big picture did you hang out with them because you wanted to?" Shikamaru questioned her, not letting up on his interrogation. "Did you really look forward to being with them or did you do it because you felt you had to? How much of it was actually real?"

"I ... I don't know," Naruko admitted. "I really do care about them now, but there was some acting involved in the past. I just can't say how real it all was."

"I figured as much," he muttered. "Look you don't think your friends are going to ask these questions and worse if you try to explain this to them? If that's the best you do in response, you certainly won't be able to satisfy my harpy of a teammate. There will be hard feelings, and it might end up as bad as you fear. Which is why I recommend you wait to tell them."

"Wait to tell them?" Naruko repeated slowly as if tasting the words.

"You say you actually care about them," Shikamaru explained, "so stop acting. Be a real friend, so when you do tell them, you can say that even if it started as an act, it had been real for some time."

"That might work," Naruko said, cheering up noticeably, "but how long should I wait?"

"Who knows?" Shikamaru said noncommittally, "Months, maybe even years. In some ways the longer the better. You probably want a number of important memories you can point to and say there was nothing false about them."

"Months?" Naruko parroted, falling quickly back into depression. In fact, she suddenly looked more upset then he'd seen her their entire meeting. He wanted to ask what that was about when she turned and ran, opening the door, sprinting out, and disappearing without a word.

Shikamaru hadn't the slightest clue what that last outburst had been about. It just went to show that no matter how they came into being, girls were impossible to understand and far too much trouble if you even tried.

* * *

Ino was heading for Shikamaru's house along with Choji and Asuma-sensei. She thought she'd taught that slacker it was more trouble than it was worth to hold them up like this, but it appeared he was in need of a refresher. They had almost reached the door when it flew open and Naruko blurred past. She was certain her friend had been crying, and Ino had _never_ seen Naruko cry.

"Naruko," she called out to the retreating form, but the other girl didn't so much as slow.

"What's wrong with her?" Choji asked, sounding a little concerned.

Ino's mind, however, was already hard at work trying to figure out just that. A crying Naruko running out of Shikamaru's house. It left a number of possibilities, but all them warranted the same reaction. Marching up to the door that had shut itself behind Naruko, she ripped it back open and stormed inside without invitation or warning. Immediately she locked her sights on Shikamaru who was already backing away from her.

"What did you do to Naruko?" she demanded of him.

"Calm down, Ino," he told her irritably. "She was like that when she got here."

"What was she even doing here in the first place?" Ino asked, still suspicious of her teammates actions.

"That's something I need to discuss with Asuma-sensei," Shikamaru answered, looking over her shoulder to where the man in question stood. "So I'm glad he's here."

"Okay, I'm listening," Asuma answered. "What's this about?"

"It seems Orochimaru tempted her brother with the promise of resurrecting someone for him," Shikamaru explained. "He's planning to agree to whatever terms were offered and Naruko's hoping someone can convince him otherwise."

Her brother wanted to betray the village? No wonder she was so upset. Ino figured she knew Naruko better than anyone, but she hadn't quite been able to figure out exactly what the relationship was between those siblings. Nevertheless, even before current events it had been obvious Naruto was very important to her. Having to turn in her own brother must have been killing her.

"I know loyal ninja who would be tempted by a promise like that," Asuma mused out loud, drawing her attention back to the real issue.

"You can handle this quietly, right, Asuma-sensei?" Ino pleaded. "There's no need to get Naruto in trouble."

"This isn't something that can be dealt with quietly," Asuma replied sternly. "The Hokage has to be informed."

"Can't you at least try talking with him first?" Ino all but begged.

"The Hokage might not be willing to risk simply talking him out of it," Shikamaru added. "But if you were able to convince him to change his mind, it would almost certainly improve his chances of being dealt with leniently."

"Yeah," Choji chimed in. "He hasn't even done anything yet. Why don't you at least see if you can work things out?"

Ino really was grateful that her teammates were backing her up despite not really knowing Naruko. Asuma looked to be having trouble holding up against their combined assault. Finally, he held up his hands in defeat.

"All right, I'll try, but if he won't listen to reason, I will stop him by whatever means necessary," he told them sternly. "I don't know what Orochimaru wants, but the fact that he wants it is reason enough to stop him."

"You shouldn't go alone in case it does get ugly," Shikamaru recommended. "I have reason to believe Naruto is more dangerous than he appears. I know where our fathers are supposed to be meeting right now. I suggest you get them to help you."

Shikamaru was worried that Asuma wasn't strong enough to handle Naruto on his own? And he wanted all three of their fathers to help? Just how dangerous was Naruto? Regardless, Ino doubted their sensei would let them go along if he was that strong, and she might be more help elsewhere, anyway.

"I'm going to go find Naruko," Ino announced. "I'm worried about how she's taking all this."

Barely waiting for the nod, she hurried out, heading first to Naruko's apartment. When even picking the lock and letting herself in showed no sign of the girl, she was left with a bit of a quandary. She had no idea where else Naruko would go when she was upset. This really was new territory for her. Maybe she could at least enlist help in her search.

If she checked the training grounds in the area, she might be able to find Sakura or Hinata. Setting out to do just that, she got lucky in that the second one she visited was occupied by one of the teams she was looking for. Ino didn't see the Sandaime anywhere, but Sasuke, Sakura, and Shino were all present.

"Sakura!" she called out to her friend. The pink-haired kunoichi hurried over to her, clearly noticing something was up. "I need you to help me find Naruko."

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked in concern.

"I can explain more later, but she's upset because she had to turn in her brother," Ino informed her. "It turns out Orochimaru bribed him into helping with something or another."

"Did you say Orochimaru?" Sasuke demanded of her, venom clear in his voice. "Naruto is going over to Orochimaru?"

He'd apparently been eavesdropping. It figured he would pay such close attention to her the one time she hadn't actually wanted him involved.

"Yes, but please keep this a secret for now," Ino pleaded. "We're still trying to get him to change his mind peacefully."

Not promising anything, or even giving word of where he was going, Sasuke raced off. She didn't think Sasuke would do anything like report this to the Hokage, but Ino still hoped she wouldn't end up regretting her carelessness.

* * *

It was less than an hour until Naruto planned to leave for his appointment with Orochimaru when four ninja walked into his house, Asuma, Inoichi, Choza, and Shikaku, if his memory served. All of them he'd met before, either when he was giving lessons, at his restaurant, or both in two of their cases. Of course the real question was what the four of them were doing here. Actually, make that five of them. There was one more person using some type of jutsu to eavesdrop through the wall, according to the warnings his wards were sending him.

"Please relax," Asuma said placatingly. "We're hoping this won't come to any trouble, but we have reason to believe Orochimaru may have made certain proposals to you."

"And if he has, we want to make sure you're not foolish enough to accept them," Shikaku added.

Had Naruko actually betrayed him? He didn't think that likely. Even if they'd both gotten a little worked up last night and said more than they should, it was hard to believe that was case. They might not even have anything but suspicion in the first place, so it was best not to give them anything solid.

"I'd be happy to put to rest any concerns you might have," Naruto told them amicably. "I have no intention of helping the man in any way."

"I'd be careful," Asuma warned him. "We already know you were planning to accept, and lying to us about it isn't the best way to keep things friendly."

Naruto was beginning to think they had found out, somehow. Regardless, even if he did up falling for a ploy, perhaps it was time to try a different approach. Maybe just a bit of the truth.

"I don't think you understand," Naruto explained. "He has proposed a trade, but what he thinks I have to offer, I couldn't give him if I wanted to. Even so, his side of the offer is so tempting I'd like to see if I can get it from him before he figures that out. The person I plan to trick is Orochimaru, not you."

"A dangerous plot if true," Inoichi commented. "My daughter is friends with your sister, so I've seen her around a lot. I'd hate to see her lose the only family she has because you thought it was a good idea to betray one of the most dangerous criminals to ever come from Konoha."

The conversation was interrupted when Sasuke burst into the room. These unannounced guests were really starting to get to him, but the older ninja seemed no more happy to see the boy than he was.

"What are you doing here, Sasuke?" Asuma asked. "This is a private meeting, so I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Not just yet," Sasuke insisted, turning on Naruto and marching closer to him. "You do realize that if you so much as go to Orochimaru you'll be branded a traitor and never allowed back in Konoha. They might even hunt you down and kill you."

Sasuke really seemed to be worked up over this and he was completely ignoring the glare he was getting Asuma for disobeying an order.

"Even if everything did go exactly as you hoped, do you plan to abandon your own sister?" Sasuke demanded of him. "You have no idea how much you might ruin her life and _you _would be doing it just for your own selfish desires."

"Everyone seems determined to use Naruko against me," Naruto replied with a nonchalance that didn't look to sit well with Sasuke. "Still, you're probably right."

Sasuke looked startled, but then calmed slightly at the statement. Naruto smirked at the reaction. He probably shouldn't have so much fun toying with him, but even the chance of what might happen today left him in too cheerful a mood to pass up the opportunity.

"They're never going to let me back in here anyway," he continued, "so I suppose it doesn't matter if I leave on good terms or not."

"As if I'd let you!" Sasuke roared, his anger fully reigniting as he reacted to Naruto's words before anyone else.

Sasuke charged Naruto at a speed that was impressive for his age, but nowhere near what would be required to threaten him. So it was a simple matter to duck under the incoming punch, grab the boy, and toss him bodily into the kitchen where there was a satisfying clatter as he scattered pots and pans in every which direction.

Naruto made to run for the door, but felt something restricting his movements. Quickly extending his senses he saw that Shikaku's chakra was running through the man's own shadow and was now wrapping itself around Naruto. It also had a bit of an odd feel to it that was probably responsible for it sticking to his own chakra like it was.

Naruto had little doubt he could force his way free, but he was intrigued enough by the ability that he wanted to try something else first. So he shifted his own chakra in a way that was difficult to put to words, but was something like changing the color or pitch of it if you wanted to compare it to other senses.

It had just been an educated guess, but he was thrilled that it worked exactly as he hoped. Whatever Shikaku had done made his chakra able to physically interact with normal chakra, but in the unusual state Naruto's was in, it passed right through it. The man could contort his shadow as much as he liked, but it would be no more dangerous than an ordinary shadow to Naruto.

The look of shock on Shikaku's face only added to his mirth. As simple as he'd made it look, changing the nature of your own chakra was not something just anyone could do, and he'd probably never once had that tried on him.

Although now wasn't the time to be patting himself on the back; he still had other concerns. Most pressing of which was Choza sending a fist, one that had somehow enlarged to several times its previous size, straight at him. It was faster than Sasuke's attack, but Naruto was still able to dodge around it and grab an arm that was nearly as enlarged at the fist.

Of course the man probably hadn't expected him to be free from Shikaku's ability. Either way, he twisted around and flipped the large man, sending him flying directly at Inoichi. The two of them handled the collision much more gracefully than Sasuke had, with Choza righting himself mid-flight and the blond ninja bracing himself and stopping his friend's momentum.

Still, it forced him to stop whatever jutsu he'd been forming the hand seals for, leaving Naruto free to focus on the rapidly approaching Asuma. The bearded man had positioned himself between Naruto and the door and was now taking a swing at him with a strange looking knife he was holding. Naruto leaned back in order to make the attack fall short, but widened his eyes when he realized what his opponent was doing.

With a burst of speed, Naruto bent over backward until he nearly made a right angle, having avoided being decapitated by much less than he'd like. Looking at the chakra extending the blade of the knife, Naruto had to give his respect for such a deadly technique. He shouldn't have been taking this fight so lightly.

As his momentum was already carrying him that way, Naruto continued to lean backward, planting his hands on the ground and lifting his feet to kick off of Asuma's chest. He didn't have much leverage in that position, so he barely forced his opponent to take a step back, but it did stall Asuma's charge while simultaneously springing Naruto toward a window that he promptly smashed through.

He hadn't even landed outside when he heard a series of small explosions, and smoke poured up from all around completely engulfing him and blocking everything from sight. The final participant had made her appearance.

"Follow me," Anko ordered him.

Not sensing any hostile intent, he let her grab his wrist and drag him off as they sprinted through the streets. Perhaps he shouldn't be trusting her, but he could feel that the two men the Hokage had left to spy on him were out cold, and he couldn't think of anyone but Anko who might have done that.

Two things amazed him as they continued running. The first was that they were still surrounded by smoke. Just how many smoke bombs had she used? The second was the fact that despite essentially zero visibility Anko was leading him at a dead sprint through twists and turns without running into anything. He didn't know if she had a way to see through it or if she'd memorized the layout that well, but either way he was impressed.

Before he got to find out just how far the smoke went, Anko came to a sudden stop. He heard a door open and was then pulled inside as it was shut behind them. Although it was quite clouded from the smoke that had made it inside, at least now Naruto could see the woman who had come to his aid.

"You're the last person I would have expected to side with me considering just who I'm going to meet," he told her.

"Yeah, well, I know something they don't," Anko replied.

"And what's that?" Naruto queried, unable to resist the bait.

"You're going to help me kill my old master," she said with a vicious smile.

"It might be foolish of me to tell you this, but I never really had any plans to kill him," Naruto admitted.

"Of course you don't _yet_," she replied. "I can see that Orochimaru has gotten to you. He has a way with offering people exactly what they most desire. Dangling it in front of them until they can't resist it."

Naruto kept quite, not wanting to admit just how close to home that was for him.

"But I figure you're bright enough to see the truth," she continued. "That being that no one ever comes out ahead in a deal with scum like him. Just ask me, Konoha, the Uchiha, or anyone else whose had dealings with him. They all fall into one of two groups. Those who have been betrayed by him, and those who soon will be. And just so you know, the former group is the much larger of the two."

"It's not like I ever trusted him," Naruto insisted, "but he has something I want."

"Yeah, so you're going to go see him about it," Anko said knowingly. "His claws are in too deep for me to stop you from doing that. Just watch him closely and remember everything he's done. Try to see him for who he really is and it shouldn't take long for you to realize he needs to die. When that time comes, make some excuse to duck out and come get me. Together, we can put an end to his miserable existence."

"Just make an excuse?" Naruto asked dubiously. "Don't you think he'll find that suspicious? I kind of think he'll be expecting betrayal at that point."

"He always expects betrayal," Anko replied. "Believe me, wherever you're meeting him, he's already loaded it up with more traps than you could believe in case things go sour."

Naruto did sympathize with her, but even though he disliked the man, Naruto had given up on the notion of killing people he felt deserved it back when he wasn't even the oldest human alive. Still, it sounded like she was going to let him go regardless. He just didn't fully understand her motivation yet.

"Why are you doing this?" Naruto asked. "For all you know, Orochimaru might convince me to work for him. Even if he doesn't, I could still decide to just stab you in the back. You're just going to let me go off and trust me to come back and help you?

"No," Anko said. "I'll let you go, but I'm certainly not going to trust you. There's a very good chance you'll be wrapped up in his web of lies. You'd hardly be the first. The reason I'm doing this is because, as much as I hate to admit it, I'm no match for Orochimaru by myself. And the Hokage is too afraid of a war to aid me. So that leaves you. You might betray me, and I might wind up dead. But you're the only hope I have, so I'm going to bet my life on you and hope the wager pays off."

Naruto had never heard the full story of Orochimaru and Anko's history, but he had to wonder just what the man had done to her to earn this much hatred.

"Well, if I don't get going soon, Orochimaru might leave and spoil both our plans," Naruto told her, making his way to the door.

"Wait," Anko called out. "At least tell me the general direction you'll be going. You probably don't want to come back to village, so I'll need to know where to meet you."

"I'll be heading east," Naruto answered truthfully, against his better judgment. "If I do look for you, it will be shortly outside the village walls in that direction."

"Just remember to hold something back," Anko warned him. "If he feels you're no more use to him, he won't hesitate to kill you."

Leaving the building, Naruto saw that most of the smoke had cleared. As quickly as he could he slipped through the village, working his way to the East. Whether through skill or luck he avoided any confrontation and quickly found himself over the wall and heading to his destination.

As he drew nearer, he found himself traveling through ever thicker forest and began to worry he wouldn't be able to find the spot. All he had was the memory of an 'X' he'd briefly seen on a map to guide him, and that had been devoid of any real landmarks he could use for reference.

He was just starting to wonder if he'd gone too far already when he came to a clearing and saw the man in question waiting for him. Remembering Anko's warning about traps, he scanned the surrounding area as well as he could. There was something pretty complex under the ground near the man, and his senses also brushed past a very well hidden presence he wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been looking so closely.

If there was anyone else hiding, they were even better at stealth than the first guy, and Naruto didn't think that terribly likely. He wondered if he should keep his knowledge of the man's presence to himself, but decided against it. Orochimaru might be less likely to try something if he wasn't confident he had the upper hand.

"I know we didn't actually agree to come alone, but I might have been more comfortable if you had," Naruto announced as he walked toward Orochimaru, nodding in the direction of the hidden figure."

"Impressive," Orochimaru replied. "I doubt I could have found Kabuto that quickly myself. As for why he's here, for all I knew you could have brought half of Konoha with you. I think a single subordinate is quite reasonable. Anyway, I'm sure you're as eager as I am to get started, so I won't delay the demonstration."

Orochimaru begin going through a series of hand seals, and Naruto focused his entire attention on them, burning the sequence deeply into his memory. The object beneath the ground began to react to whatever he was doing, and Naruto realized bitterly that he wasn't seeing the full technique. Something had already been done to whatever was down there, and without knowing what, he doubted the hand seals would be enough to duplicate it.

That didn't stop him from continuing to devote himself fully to learning those seals, but it seemed Naruko's concerns were well founded. He wasn't just going to hand him the ability and let him run off. As the object began to give off even more energy, it started to rise up, revealing some kind of box as it came up through the grass.

Once it had completely emerged, the box opened, and a black haired man in armor stepped out. Naruto couldn't shake the feeling he looked familiar, but couldn't place just who it was. It was hardly a very effective demonstration when he didn't know if the guy had even been dead to begin with.

"What exactly is this supposed to prove?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"You mean you don't recognize the Shodai Hokage?" Orochimaru queried in amusement.

At his words, Naruto realized exactly why he looked familiar. It was the same face carved into the side of a mountain back in Konoha. His hopes soared even though he knew this could easily still be a trick.

"How do I know this is really him brought back from the dead?" Naruto asked.

"You used a forbidden jutsu to bring me back just for some sort of demonstration?" the man asked, not looking at all happy.

"You were alive back then," he told Naruto. "Just talk about old times or something. Ask him questions only he would know the answer to, or just complain about kids these days. Surely you can think of something to alleviate your concerns."

Naruto actually had a more direct approach he was planning to take. Even while he was talking he'd already started sending his senses deep into the man in front of him, looking for some clue as to how he'd come into being. He soon found just what he was looking for, and his heart fell.

He now had a basic idea of what was happening and the dead weren't being brought back to life. Instead, chakra from the deceased was being wrapped around another person's soul, warping it to take on the shape of the dead person's. It was somewhat related to the ability he'd used to copy his memories into Naruko, only instead of implanting it onto a blank slate it overrode a soul that was already there.

Yes, part of the technique would have been a way to summon the chakra left behind at the moment of death. The passing of the soul always left a special kind of chakra that lingered for a long time. For those especially powerful or who still had a strong attachment to the world, it could even manifest visibly at times. Naruto knew for a fact this was the origin of many a ghost story.

Still, while this could create a very strong mimicry of a someone, it didn't change the fact that that's all it was. Although even in his sudden depression, a thought began to worm its way through Naruto's mind. He hadn't fallen in love Hanabi's soul. He couldn't even sense them back then. No, it was her personality and their shared memories that he loved, and those could be duplicated.

Even if the soul was different, would it matter? Of course there still were issues. Even if he used the jutsu, it wouldn't solve the original problem. He couldn't take her with him to the realm of the biju. He doubted very strongly the soul manipulation would survive the transfer. Even so, continuing his quest with Hanabi would be a world of difference from what it was like now.

There was still one fear, however. The chakra formed at death lasted for quite a while, but Hanabi had been dead for a _long_ time. What if there wasn't enough left for the jutsu to use? For that matter, how long did the jutsu last? And if he had to use it again, would she keep any of the memories she'd made, or would she reset each time?

His mind reeling, Naruto spared just a moment for self reflection and was startled by what he saw. He was eagerly looking for a way to twist someone else's soul into a reflection of Hanabi's. What's more, he was even considering doing it over and over again, if necessary. Was he going to go around and start judging criminals as deserving of not just death, but to have the very fabric of who they were toyed with?

Whatever copy he created of Hanabi, the first thing she'd do was tear into him for committing such a heinous act, and he would deserve it completely. And to think, just a moment ago he'd been determined to go through with it. Forget whatever promises he'd made, if this jutsu had really worked as advertized, he'd have been begging the man to let him teach him everything he knew just to learn the rest of the jutsu.

And just what type of man would he have been helping? How many times had Orochimaru already used this ability? He didn't look the least bit guilty for it, and he'd wager he hadn't even limited himself to criminals. The whole jutsu was an abomination, and Naruto wasn't even convinced it was greater of two evils between it and its user. He still might not like the idea of killing, but Anko was right that he needed to be stopped.

"There's no need to question him, I'm convinced," Naruto finally spoke. Even as quickly as his introspection had actually gone, he was aware the silence had been dragging on to unusual length. "Teach me the rest of the ability and I'll happily give you what you want."

"I'll teach you, but not quite in that order," Orochimaru replied. "I promised you I would be first to show the basics of the ability, and I did. Given enough time, you might even be able to work out the rest yourself. However, I won't have this as a repeat of my time with Akatsuki. I will have something in return for my efforts. Give me at least the basics of how your immortality works, and we can discuss who goes into more detail first after that."

Good, his act seemed to be working for the moment. Although perhaps he should simply try to stop the man now. Anko wouldn't be able to keep a level head, and she didn't even claim to be anywhere close to as strong as Orochimaru to begin with. On the other hand, she did know him better than Naruto did, and her knowledge could be useful. Especially as he'd be outnumbered even if that Shodai Hokage he'd created wasn't in fighting form.

"Very well," he responded putting as much reluctance into his voice as possible. "However, there are certain ingredients that are necessary in the process which I deliberately didn't bring. You're not the only one who was lacking in trust. If you'd simply decided to kill me, I didn't want such a big hint as to how it works left on my body as a clue."

"If you tell me what they are, I'll be happy to help you obtain them," Orochimaru offered greedily.

"That won't be necessary," he answered. "I already have them gathered, I simply need to pick them up. We should meet again in half an hour. I suggest at a different location as well. That ability of yours wasn't exactly subtle, and I'd hate to have company if someone sensed it."

"Very well," the other man agreed. "There's another clearing a slightly over a mile from here, just a little west of due north."

"I'll see you then," Naruto agreed, quickly hurrying off to where Anko would be waiting. His last fight with Orochimaru had gone well, but he suspected the man hadn't been completely serious. Hopefully he hadn't been holding back too much.

* * *

Enough time had passed that whatever happened with Naruto must be over by now. So Naruko couldn't use that as excuse to delay anymore as she neared Minato's office.

"What are you doing here, Naruko?" Kushina asked from where she'd snuck up behind her. Then, getting a good look at Naruko's state, her concern quickly became apparent. "Is everything all right?"

"I was hoping to talk to Minato-sensei about that," she replied.

"He had to go deal with a bit of a disturbance," Kushina informed her. "But you know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

Naruko didn't like the sound of that. It was probably too much to hope that it was unrelated to Naruto, and any sort of trouble probably meant things had gone poorly.

"Sure," Naruko answered weakly. She wasn't really any _more_ reluctant to talk to Kushina than Minato.

"Why don't you come inside where we can get some privacy?" Kushina asked, opening the door to Minato's office and leading her inside.

When it had shut behind them Naruko found herself struggling to work up the courage to talk. This was even worse than with Shikamaru, as she actually cared what Kushina thought of her. Still, she had to do this, so she might as well get it over with. Firming her resolve she began to rapidly explain herself, hardly stopping for breath so as to get it over with as quickly as possible.

She revealed how Naruto was really much older than he appeared. She explained how she had been created by Naruto. She admitted he had been the one breaking into Konoha and skirmishing with Minato. She even went into Naruto's plans regarding Orochimaru. Naruko did hold a few things back. She wasn't quite ready to admit that she'd had all of Naruto's memories originally and didn't go into much detail of Naruto's life before creating her, as that wasn't terribly relevant. Nor did she reveal her own limited time remaining.

Throughout the whole process, Kushina listened quietly, although that might have something to do with Naruko not giving much opportunity for her to get a word in edgewise. Still, Naruko could clearly see shock and surprise in response to her words. With how fast she'd been talking it didn't take long for her to run out of things to say. Falling silent she waited for Kushina's response, dreading what it would be.

"I'm impressed you told me all this," Kushina told her, surprising Naruko with how warm her response was. "As I see it, you've basically spent your entire life in Konoha. It's not surprising you'd have come to care for it as much as any other native."

"Aren't you worried this might just be a trick?" Naruko asked, not letting herself fully believe it could go this well.

"You might have got a big head from your win against Sasuke," she answered with a smirk, "but don't think you could spend so much time around ninja as capable as Minato and I without us getting a sense of your true character. Basically, I trust you. If you say you're loyal to the village, then that's good enough for me."

"I am," Naruko assured her quickly, "but what if Minato-sensei doesn't agree? Even if he personally trusts me, he is the Hokage. Can he afford to take that chance with me?"

"The way I see it he can't afford not to take that chance," Kushina said confidently. "He'd have to deal with me otherwise. Isn't that right, dear?"

In response to the question, Minato himself opened the door and sheepishly slid inside.

"How long have you been there?" Naruko asked, not having noticed his presence at all.

"For almost the entire thing, I believe," he answered. "And I agree with my wife. I trust you completely. It would be hypocritical for me to do otherwise. It seems both of us came to be in a rather unnatural way, and even if I don't trust Naruto, that's only a drop in the bucket compared to my feelings about Orochimaru. Speaking of which, I believe this proves neither Naruto nor Naruko are my children."

Kushina looked embarrassed by his words before quickly trying to deflect the barb. "Hey now, it was an honest mistake. You aren't really going latch onto it are you? I thought you were better than that."

Naruko couldn't help but laugh a little at that. To think she'd been so depressed before she came in here. She really was lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful people. Minato for his part, sighed at Kushina's antics and turned his attention back to Naruko.

"Just so you know, Naruto did manage to escape," he told her. "There was quite a bit of chaos, but no one was injured. I've questioned those involved, and I know you were trying to resolve the matter peacefully. Who knows, maybe it would have even worked if they weren't interrupted."

Naruko actually found herself a little relieved by that. She really didn't wish Naruto any ill will. In fact, she hoped this all worked out for him, even if she disagreed with his decision. If nothing else, she owed him for pushing her to reveal so much to Minato and Kushina. He deserved a little bit of happiness too.

* * *

Anko bounded up to Naruto almost the moment he came in sight. "Does this mean you've come to your senses?"

"If by that you mean I'm going to help you fight Orochimaru, then yes," Naruto answered, a little disturbed by the look of glee that response elicited.

"Great, let's get going," she ordered eagerly.

"Before we do, there's one thing I want to look into," Naruto told her. "I've noticed there's some strong chakra on your neck that feels a lot like Orochimaru's."

"You must mean my cursed seal," she replied, snarling as the words left her mouth. "Anyway, we put another seal around it to keep it quiet. It won't be a problem."

"So you say," Naruto said, "but I'd like to at least take a look at it. Otherwise he may be able to use it against you."

"Fine, if it will make you happy," she agreed, turning so he could get a good look at the seal. "But be quick about it."

He'd barely had to glance at it to see what nasty piece of work it was. The seal appeared to be designed to drain Anko's own chakra and self-repair if it came under attack. And it was tied so deeply into important parts of her chakra path that it would be all but impossible to take it out quickly without killing Anko. Any attack would require a surgical touch.

Nor could you simply wait for it to run out of chakra; it would drain Anko do death before it stopped repairing itself. Still, he was running the puzzle through his mind and he thought he saw a solution. One that he wanted to try since he wasn't fully convinced the seal around it was up to the job of holding it back.

"Yeah, you'd better let me do something about this," he told Anko.

"Not a chance," she replied, pulling away from him. "I've had some of the best seal masters in Konoha look at it, and not one of them could remove it. If you even tried I'd likely end up in no shape to fight."

"I'm just going to strengthen the seal around it a bit," he lied, confident he could remove it safely, but not so sure he could convince her of that fact. "I'm not letting you come with otherwise. I wouldn't trust it not to activate."

She glared at him threateningly for even suggesting that much, and Naruto was glad he hadn't admitted his real plan. Still, if she thought he was going to back down just because she was giving him a nasty look, she was going to be disappointed. Her frustration looked to be growing as he stood his ground.

"You're impossible!" she said angrily, but turned to let him have access to the seal again. "But I've already decided to put my life on the line for this. What's a little more risk?"

Pulling out some ink from a pocket, Naruto set to work. The seal would react to any attack, but he wasn't going to attack it just yet, he was actually going to add to it.

"You're drawing on me?" Anko asked in surprise. "No hand seals? Isn't that a bit old-fashioned?"

"It's how I learned to do it," he told her with a shrug, and she didn't press the matter further.

Anyway, the seal had numerous roots extending from it to allow it to draw chakra from Anko if it needed it. Naruto simply added a few more looping right back to itself, tying to the parts responsible for the self-repair. It would start to feed on it's own chakra when it needed to repair.

That wouldn't be enough to stop it by itself, as it would still get plenty of chakra from Anko as well. So his next step was to examine her chakra flows and use some juken tricks to block off the flow to as many of the roots as he could. He couldn't completely block all of them. Stopping certain ones would kill her after all, but this should greatly reduce how much it could pull from her.

Double checking his work, he figured it was time to start, before Anko realized anything something was off. Not even relying on seals now, he simply went to work with his own chakra, focusing on the roots tied to still active chakra flows and cutting them free as quickly as he could without risking damage to Anko. The cursed seal sprung to life almost instantly and began to repair itself.

"What are you doing?" Anko demanded of him, obviously noticing something was up now.

Still, Naruto pressed on quickly. At first the seal was repairing the roots as quickly as Naruto could remove them, and Naruto was beginning to worry he'd been a bit overconfident. But then his first little trick came into play. The part of the construct that responsible for self-repair was being eaten away as it tried to pull in more chakra. This damage was being repaired as well, but between it have to split its focus on two areas to repair, and being a little less efficient at it, Naruto was beginning to make headway.

And the more roots he removed, the more the seal was relying on self-cannibalism to get chakra for repairs. Really, once he started making progress it had been all but over. The more damage he did, the faster her was able to damage it. It actually only took about ten seconds from when Anko had first protested until the whole seal fell apart from simply having more structural damage than it could deal with. He then quickly reopened her tenketsu to finish the process.

"It's … it's gone," Anko said in shock. With a seal that vile Naruto wasn't surprised she could just tell that without even looking at it.

"Sorry about lying to you," Naruto said. "But I didn't want to waste time trying to convince you I could actually do that."

Given her personality, Naruto had expected her to be furious at the deception, but she actually looked overjoyed. It might be the first smile he'd ever seen on her face that didn't seem to promise suffering for someone else. Although Naruto was caught completely by surprise in just how she chose to express her joy, as she pulled him down and pressed her lips firmly against his before he even realized what was happening. He was briefly stunned, but jumped back the instant she released him.

"Now don't read too much into that," she said wagging a finger him. "That was just a thank you. Although, if you enjoyed it, I suggest you work really hard to make sure Orochimaru doesn't slip away. There's another taste of that for you if he dies."

"Yes, well, I think we should focus more on the fight than what to do when it's over," he told her, eager to change the subject. That kind of thanks was not something he needed right now. "I suggest we get moving."

She was even more eager than he was to do so, and Naruto quickly found himself leading the way through the forest while warning her about a couple things along the way. Most noticeably about Kabuto and the Shodai Hokage creation. She grimaced upon that news, but seemed no less determined to do this.

At the pace they set, it didn't take long to come upon their targets. Naruto had been sensing ahead to the best of his ability and located Orochimaru when they were still some distance away. Easy enough when he wasn't even trying to hide himself. With a few quick words, he split up from Anko, hoping to get the drop on them.

As stealthily as he could, he circled around the edge of the clearing, finding himself behind Orochimaru and the former Hokage. Pulling out his sword, Naruto leaped in with all the speed he could muster, hoping to take out the abomination before the fight even started. His plan worked beautifully, as his sword sliced right through the waist of the Shodai, splitting him cleanly in two.

"I'd hoped you would be more reasonable than this," Orochimaru told him as he turned to face Naruto. He then weaved to the side as a hail of kunai passed through where his head had been. "However, it appears my wayward student has gotten to you."

Rather than Orochimaru, Naruto was actually focused on what was going on with the man he'd just cut in two. Legs had dissolved, but now were reforming around on the torso. As soon as he was whole again, the man jumped back to his feet. That was not good. It didn't look as if he'd be so easy to kill.

"Look out!" Anko cried out just as his own senses were warning him of a new threat.

Naruto jumped to the side, just in time to avoid an blow from a gray-haired man wearing armor similar to the Shodai Hokage. It was easy enough to make the connection and recognize him as the second face from the mountain. Great, on top of Orochimaru, he now had two former Hokage that were all but invincible to deal with. And judging from the ferocity of that attack, they were quite capable in this form.

"I'm actually very forgiving," Orochimaru said confidently. "I would still be willing to forget this happened if you give me what I want."

"The only thing we're giving you is a quick death," Anko said, sprinting at him. "Which is more than you deserve."

Her charge was brought up short when a fourth opponent landed in front of her. Judging by the feel of his chakra, this was the man who had been hiding at the previous site, Kabuto.

"I'm afraid Orochimaru is busy at the moment," he told her. "But if you're bored I'll be more than happy to occupy your time."

Okay, this situation still wasn't so bad. Naruto was almost the perfect opponent for dealing with these doppelgangers. If there was one thing he'd been training harder in than anything else, it was separating the soul from outside influences. He'd gotten a look at the Shodai's before, and it was nowhere near as closely bound as Naruto's was with the Biju.

Sit him down with one of them, and he was confident he could break them free from the ability in under half a minute. So all he needed to do was convince them to sit still for that long and let him work. Easy, right? Well, he could always slice them to pieces and go to work while they were regenerating.

Intending to do just that, he attacked the Shodai a second time, hoping to again divide him in two. This wasn't to be, as without the element of surprise, the man caused a large tree to sprout between them, quickly growing to where it was too large to cut through. Well, it served to separate them, so he would just go for the other one. Turning around he dodged a stream of steaming water sent from Nidaime and dashed in, slashing at his target.

The man knocked his blade aside with his arm. Naruto's sword cut through the armor and deep into the flesh, but the wound was already healing when it had been pulled free. Still, taking whatever opportunity he had, he reached out with his senses, digging in and finding the construct that was warping the original soul.

Starting to tear away at it, he was pleased to see that even doing so looked to have the effect of immobilizing the Nidaime. His pleasure was brought short as he'd barely even started working when he was forced to dodge a fresh eruption from the ground, as what looked to be half a dozen wooden spears with very sharp points came up from all around him.

He weaved through an opening between two and was forced to slice off the ends of several that gave pursuit. He should be grateful Orochimaru was so far content to stand on the sideline and watch, but these two alone were proving dangerous to fight even if he gave them his full attention. It was going to be difficult to get one to leave him alone long enough to stop the other.

"I don't suppose you could hurry up with your fight?" he called out to Anko. "Some kind of distraction would really come in handy about now."

"I'm kind of busy," she yelled back. "But I'll see what I can do."

Actually, sparing a glance at Anko's fight, it looked as if she having trouble even holding her own. Kabuto was faster than she was, and might even be toying with her. He considered trying to come to her aid instead, but his momentary distraction cost him, as a dragon of water slammed into him, pushing him straight into a swarm of wooden spikes created by the Shodai.

His best efforts to avoid damage could only go so far, and one of them went straight through his left bicep. Finally freeing himself from the dragon, he cut free one end of the spike and pulled the rest out, ignoring the pain. The wound quickly healed up behind itself. Those two weren't the only ones with regenerative powers.

Naruto immediately leaped back into the fight, finding himself hard-pressed to do more than superficial damage that healed in moments without even slowing them. He even got a few more cuts himself from attacks he didn't dodge quite fast enough. He was beginning to grow worried. Even if Orochimaru didn't interfere at all, he might lose this.

"One distraction coming right up!" Anko yelled out, drawing his attention to where numerous snakes were growing out of her sleeves and pursuing a dodging a Nidaime. This could be just what he needed to take out the other Hokage.

He was already heading toward him to do just that when Naruto realized that Anko hadn't at all finished her fight. Kabuto was quickly coming up behind her and all her attention was on her attack. If he didn't do something, Anko would be killed.

Changing direction, he sprinted over to Anko, hoping to rescue her. However, Kabuto was fast, and had been closer to start with. Even going all out, it was clear Naruto wouldn't reach him in time. Seeing no other choice, Naruto Swung his sword, slamming the flat of into Anko and pushing her out of the way just in time to avoid the glowing blade coming from Kabuto's fingers.

Then pivoting, Naruto turned the blade and thrust it right through Kabuto's chest. He felt a moment of regret for having done so, not having wanted to kill anyone. But it was becoming more and more apparent that if he held back anything, it would likely be Anko who died. Pulling his sword free, and letting Kabuto fall he turned his attention back to his other opponents.

"You should have taken out Hashirama instead," Anko complained. "He's the bigger threat, and I gave you the perfect opening. Or did you ask for a distraction when you don't even have a plan to take him out?"

"I'm perfectly capable of eliminating him," Naruto assured her, a bit tersely due to the lack of gratitude. "I just thought saving your life was more important."

"As if I'd let a kid like him kill me," Anko snapped back. "You need to stay focused on your own fights."

"I don't know why you're mad," Naruto argued. "You're alive and Kabuto's dead. You're free to make as many distractions as you want now."

"Fine, I will," she replied crossly.

Both of them dodged to either side of more of those annoying spikes of the Shodai's and Anko ran up to the Nidaime and began viciously assaulting him. None of her attacks got through as she was clearly outclassed. Naruto was tempted to help her again, but he really did need to take one of the two out, and he was half afraid she would turn on him if he wasted another opportunity. He'd just have to trust she could hold out long enough for him to finish with his own target.

With that in mind, Naruto made for black-haired Hokage taking as straight a course as he could. He cut through as many attacks as he could rather than go around them, and even allowed a few minor wounds for the sake of finishing as quickly as possible. Arriving at his target, he again began reaching his chakra toward the man's soul.

Once he started attacking the construct around it, he was grateful it still had the effect of paralyzing the body. Working as quickly as he could, Naruto tore and cut at it, pulling it away from the soul it was influencing. The progress was fairly quick, but still was far too slow for his tastes, considering time was his enemy. He was so determined to complete his task as quickly as possible, that he couldn't avoid letting out a small whoop of joy when the construct came loose.

Naruto barely even took time to notice the body began to disintegrate before turning his attention back to Anko. He saw her take a vicious kick to her side that sent her tumbling along the ground before she was finally able to get herself under some semblance of control. The Nidaime gave pursuit, but Naruto had already crossed the distance and placed himself between them before the man could attack again.

Reaching out, he intended to finish the Nidaime off in the same manner he just had his brother, but was forced instead to block a swing Orochimaru made with a sword the man gotten from somewhere. He cursed himself for all but forgetting about their actual target. He'd barely brought his defense up in time, and if the man had gone for Anko instead, he wasn't sure he'd have noticed quick enough to stop him.

"I tire of this," Orochimaru said, no longer sounding like he was enjoying himself. "This is your last chance to stop this foolishness before I put an end to you myself."

"I think I'll pass," Naruto answered sternly.

"Half your forces are already dead," Anko pointed out smugly. "We'll finish the rest off soon enough."

"Pity," he told them. "Oh well. Perhaps your corpse will have some answers."

The fight that followed started off slightly better than his original battle with the two Hokages. As long as they stuck close to Orochimaru, the Nidaime couldn't use a lot of his big attacks without hitting him as well. Nor did the two of them work together nearly as well as the brothers had. And finally, Anko was proving to be quite helpful.

Despite being the least powerful of the four of them, she was good enough to take a little pressure off Naruto. He was still worried she was going to get herself killed, and had to constantly be on guard to make sure that didn't happen, but even so, it was a net positive. Of course she was focusing nearly all her attacks on Orochimaru, but considering they wouldn't do much good against the Nidaime, that was probably wise even if it wasn't the reason she was doing so.

Although that sense of control might prove to be a problem after all. The brothers had been acting like puppets, but Orochimaru had his full wits about him. He wasn't giving Naruto so much as a moment alone with the Nidaime, so he had no opening to eliminate him from the fight. And worse still, his sword was actually collecting a large number of nicks from Orochimaru's blade. What was that thing made out of anyway?

That once again made an enemy of time, as the weapon would crack and break before too long. So, he couldn't go after the Nidaime, and he couldn't continue as things were going. That left only one possibility. He had to take out Orochimaru quickly.

"Anko, Nidaime," he ordered, relieved to see she listened and went for the man.

If she could just buy him a few seconds, he might be able to do something. Orochimaru swung his blade at Naruto again, but rather than a full strength block, he held his own sword in his left hand, using only its strength. It proved to not be quite adequate, as he was unable to stop the momentum, and even ducking down to his knees as he pressed forward, it still forced his own sword to dig deeply into his left shoulder.

Naruto ignored the pain of it as best he could, not being able to let his attention waver as he used his chakra sense to seek out the tenketsu in Orochimaru's legs. Blurring into motion with his right hand, he sealed off more then a dozen of them before his opponent jumped back.

That allowed Naruto to remove his sword from its rather awkward position, and relieve the pain as the wound closed itself up. Orochimaru was eying him more warily than ever. Having so many tenketsu shut off while seeing Naruto still unharmed after a wound a major as that couldn't be doing much for his confidence.

Naruto took the opportunity to rush back to where Anko was trying to hold off the Nidaime. Maybe his more cautious attitude would give Naruto the time he needed here. Catching up and starting the process, he moved even faster this time, now that he had some experience with it. Quickly enough he'd destroyed the construct as thoroughly as he had the first.

"I thought I told you not to let him get away!" Anko cried out, drawing Naruto's attention to the fact that the final remaining opponent was in the process of fleeing. That was how he'd gotten all the time he needed.

Anko on the other hand, hadn't been distracted, and looked as if she'd been giving pursuit almost as soon as he'd started his flight. Snakes flew out from her sleeves again, much as they had when she'd first tried a distraction, but in even greater numbers. She was probably pouring everything she had into this.

Orochimaru did an impressive job of dodging around them while slashing away at those that got too close, and probably would have been completely successful if he weren't slowed by the tenketsu Naruto had sealed. However, once the first one caught him and latched onto his arm, it further slowed him allowing more to catch up until half his body was covered by the snakes that were biting into him.

"That much venom should be a problem even for you," Anko mocked him as Naruto drew closer.

"I won't forgive you two for this!" Orochimaru yelled out, and what happened next was the most surprising part of the fight yet.

Seeming to burst out of skin, came a monstrous white snake somehow larger than the man himself had been. It had a human like face that still bore some resemblance to Orochimaru's own and the entire body looked as if it was made up of smaller snakes.

The creature coiled and then struck at Naruto, but unless he was just trying to make Naruto underestimate him, he was much slower than he'd been in his human form. Naruto had no difficulty avoiding it, and Anko used the opportunity to grab the sword he'd left behind and slice off his back third. She actually looked surprised by something after she had.

"He's spreading poison into the air," she warned him. "It's not enough to effect me, but I wouldn't breathe it if I were you."

With his healing Naruto probably had less to worry about than she did regarding the poison, but nonetheless used the same trick he had against Kisame to create a constant supply of fresh air with his chakra.

Naruto should have known better than to think the fight was all but over, as Orochimaru's amputated tail had actually slithered over to the rest of the body and fused back together. It figured he could heal whatever wounds they dealt him too. He'd better get to work finding a solution to this problem as well. Running over to where Orochimaru had just regenerated, he sliced clean through him in almost exactly the same place.

"It won't do you any good no matter how many times you do that," Orochimaru taunted. "I am immortal, and my poison will over even you eventually."

Naruto would just see about that. This time, he was paying very close attention to what was going on. It looked as if the severed tail wasn't completely autonomous. It was reacting to chakra from Orochimaru's main body and moving toward it. Perhaps it was even being directly controlled by the body. Regardless, Naruto believed he could do something about that.

"We'll see if you survive when you're cut into pieces too small to do anything," Anko yelled out, going to work at doing just that.

Naruto let her do her thing for a moment as he worked out the details in his mind. Believing he had it down, he moved over to a piece of Orochimaru resting on a large patch of dirt and pulled out his ink. Drawing seals onto the ground, he activating them, forming a barrier that would keep the chakra from passing in either direction. The piece he was experimenting with immediately ceased all movement. Kicking the piece out of the barrier, it resumed squirming back to the rest of the body.

Smiling Naruto went past where Anko was futilely trying to cut up the rest of the snake faster than it could reform, dodged a strike from the head, and cut it clean off at the neck. He then batted the head into the center of the barrier he'd already formed. Immediately all the other pieces of the body went limp, catching Anko by surprise. Naruto approached the disembodied head, having quite a few frustrations he'd like to work out on it.

"You can't kill me!" Orochimaru cried out, worry clear in his voice. "I have an army. Think of how many will die as a result of the retaliation. Are you willing to have that on your conscience?"

Naruto came up short at that. He hadn't really wanted to kill the man to begin with, and he was right that Naruto didn't want to cause a war. Still, he wasn't about to let him go free either, so Naruto had to figure out how to get the living head back to Konoha when leaving the barrier would cause the body to become active again.

He'd hardly had any time to think it over, when it no longer became an issue, as Anko skewered the head with Orochimaru's own sword. She then brought it back up and continued stabbing over and over again, creating a sight Naruto had to look away from, despite a normally hardy stomach.

"Anko!" Naruto berated her. "Why did you do that?"

"One thing that he never did well was inspire loyalty," Anko explained. "His men will be too busy killing each other over who gets to be the new boss to even think of starting a war."

Even if she was right, it didn't sit entirely well with Naruto. Although he found he couldn't bring himself to care much that she'd killed the man, it was more that she was risking war over what she thought she knew about his subordinates.

While he'd been lost in introspection, Anko had become satisfied with how finely she chopped the head and switched over to burning what remained to ash with a fire jutsu. When she'd finished with the head she made her way to pieces of the body and repeated the process.

"Must you do that?" he asked in annoyance.

"You saw what that freak could do," she answered. "I won't be satisfied that he's really dead until every last cell of his is burned to a crisp."

Naruto supposed he couldn't really argue with that and waited as she continued the process.

"I really wish you hadn't done that," Kabuto declared as he slowly stood up, surprising Naruto in the fact he'd been capable of it in the first place.

"Didn't I put a sword through your chest?" Naruto asked him, wondering what kind of trick it was.

"Yes, that's why it took me so long to heal it," he responded.

"Was there anyone in this fight who couldn't heal themselves from wounds that should be fatal?" Naruto asked no one in particular.

"I don't think I can," Anko answered. "But I'm so good I've never had the chance to see. Now help me finish this lackey off."

"You'd be wiser to let me go," Kabuto argued. "Anko is right about most of Orochimaru's men. However, he wasn't completely devoid of those who were truly loyal. There's no telling what they might do in their grief. In return for my life, however, I would gladly see to it that they don't turn to Konoha for revenge."

"Or you might just help them do it," Anko pointed out.

"I'm too practical for that," he insisted. "I'm not going to get myself killed over revenge. I have my own goals. I'll even promise to never raise arm against Konoha if it will make you feel better."

"As if your word meant anything in the first place," Anko spat, brandishing her recently acquired sword."

"Let him go," Naruto said simply, putting a hand on her shoulder to prevent her from doing anything rash. "If he breaks his vow, I'll even help you hunt him down myself."

"Fine," she agreed reluctantly. "But get out of here before I change my mind."

"A wise decision," Kabuto said, bowing before he turned and scurried off.

Watching him go, Naruto had to wonder if it really was all that wise.

* * *

Searching the area one last time, Anko was finally satisfied that there was nothing left of Orochimaru. He was well and truly dead. For a moment she actually felt a pang a sorrow, but she quashed that down the instant it showed up. It had to just be the poison getting to her a little despite her built up resistances. Or perhaps she simply regretted that he hadn't suffered nearly enough.

Orochimaru was finally dead. Everything she'd worked so hard for had paid off. Yes, now she was feeling it. She was thrilled. This was everything she'd ever hoped for. She didn't even care that they let Kabuto go. All that mattered was that the snake himself was dead. She actually burst out into maniacal laughter she was so happy. This did get her strange looks from Naruto, but what did she care?

"We did it!" she cried out. "We killed him."

Rushing up to him she went to grab him to give him another helping of the thanks she'd promised earlier, but he dodged nimbly out of the way leaving her grasping at air. And there he was having the nerve to look as relieved as if he'd just dodged an kunai. This of course did not sit will with her in the least.

"What, too good for me, mister 'having my shoulder almost cut off is only a minor inconvenience?'" Anko asked threateningly.

"It's not that," Naruto said, trying vainly to placate her. "It's just that I used to be married. What Orochimaru promised me in the first place was help bringing my wife back from the dead. It just doesn't feel right kissing another woman."

Great, how was she supposed to respond to that without coming off as an inconsiderate jerk. Not that she worried all that much about such things, but she owed the guy big time, so she should probably go easy on him for a while.

"Whatever," she said dismissively, "let's just get back to Konoha."

"Well, you can head back, I think my journey will be taking me elsewhere," he responded.

"What?" she asked in surprise. "Why?"

The first interesting guy to come around in a while and he was just going to wander off? She had more questions than ever before after some of the stuff she'd seen him pull. She'd been looking forward to dragging those answers out of him.

"It's just that I don't think I'll exactly be welcome back there after the exit I made," he told her a bit sheepishly.

"Oh is that all?" she asked, relieved if it was. "Don't worry about it. You only did that because I talked you into it. The fact I helped you escape is proof enough of that."

"You don't think they'd actually buy that, do you?" Naruto asked.

"It doesn't matter if they do," she insisted. "We went and killed Orochimaru, so you obviously weren't collaborating with him. What do they really have on you anyway? We'll be heroes for cleansing the world of a villain like him."

"Well …," Naruto said thoughtfully. "I don't really have anything better to do. I suppose I could see how it goes. But I won't be happy if I have to leave as quickly this time as I did last time."

"Meh, I got you out once, I can do it again," she boasted. "Now come on. I can't wait to see peoples' faces when we're getting medals pinned on us by the Hokage himself."

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Now this is more like the pace I wanted to set. Given how long this chapter was I'm completely satisfied with the time it took me to get it out. Oh, and don't think everything's going to go quiet next chapter just because I resolved so much here. Don't forget that Akatsuki is still nosing around and hasn't gotten majorly involved. I could give more examples, but let's just say I have plenty to work with to make the next chapter exciting with building back up, should I so choose.

You probably noticed I took a lot of liberties regarding how Edo Tensei works. Not that canon ever really went into much of the religious aspects, and I suppose it could explain why none of them seem to have any memory of the afterlife. Regardless, I just didn't want it to work that way. No easy happy ending for Naruto yet.

Oh, and I completely underestimated how long that big fight would take. At the halfway point of the chapter, I thought I was over two-thirds of the way done. Nearly all of the discrepancy was the fight. Hopefully I at least made it entertaining for all that work, as I just spent most of my Saturday writing it.


	13. Chapter 13

Sasuke was not at all pleased with his second loss in as many days. Granted his pride had been salvaged somewhat this time by the fact that Naruto had managed to escape four jonin with about as much apparent effort as he'd used against Sasuke. Still, he never enjoyed being made a fool of. He should have simply attacked without warning. Things might have turned out differently with the benefit of surprise, and seeing as he was working with Orochimaru, he would have deserved it.

His problem had been drawing too much of a correlation between Naruko's situation and his own with Itachi. For starters, with Naruko as a sibling he could hardly blame Naruto if he didn't care what happened to her. But in all seriousness, Sasuke suspected that Naruto had been working for the snake from the start. He knew a little of Naruko's history of being brought to Konoha by the Yondaime.

She'd probably escaped from under Orochimaru's wing at that time even if she didn't realize it herself. So Naruto had been sent to try to convince her to return, but she'd turned him down and revealed his true motives at the same time. Sasuke just wished he'd been there to see his face when Naruto discovered that. It might have made up a little for being unable to stop his escape.

Now, as if reflecting on his humiliation wasn't bad enough, Asuma had shown up at his home and started lecturing him in front of his mother. As mortifying as that had been at times, at least there was some amusement in watching Asuma struggle to give him a tongue lashing while simultaneously refraining from letting any sensitive information slip out. He'd been going at it for a while now, and didn't show any signs of slowing yet, so amusement and embarrassment were both fading away into boredom.

"Are you even listening to me?" he asked angrily, having caught on to the fact that Sasuke had been zoning him out. "After what you did that takes a lot of nerve."

"As I understand it, he did it all for the sake of that Naruko girl," his mother interjected. "It all sound very sweet to me."

Whatever embarrassment he'd thought he'd inured himself to had just come back with a vengeance as Sasuke squirmed in reaction. Not that he ever appreciated it, but now was a particularly bad time for his mother's teasing. Still, it did serve the purpose of finally breaking Asuma's scowl as he chuckled a little instead. Then again that may have been worse considering it was Sasuke he was laughing at.

"Be that as it may," Asuma continued, trying to regain his former sternness with only some degree of success, "his actions aren't something that can just be dismissed. He may have ruined an important operation, and there will be consequences for that."

"Thank you Asuma, but I'll take it from here," Sarutobi-sensei declared, having somehow snuck in without anyone noticing.

"Fine," Asuma agreed. "Just don't be too soft on him."

"He's my student and I handle him however I want," the Sandaime snapped, before quickly calming himself again. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lash out at you like that."

"Are you all right old man?" Asuma asked with concern, apparently finding his outburst as out of character as Sasuke did.

"I'll be okay, but thank you Asuma," Sarutobi told him. "Now walk with me, Sasuke."

Sasuke complied readily. If he was going to get another lecture, he'd prefer it be somewhere more private. They walked for a while in silence before they came to a stop in a small park that was currently empty.

"I'm sure you've already heard more than enough from Asuma about the importance of following orders," his sensei finally spoke. "Of course you'll have your pay docked and this will be added to your record, but that matter is the smaller issue as far as I'm concerned. I'm more worried about the motivation behind your actions."

"I wanted to hurt Orochimaru in any way possible," Sasuke admitted without reservation. "That should be reason enough for anyone."

"You don't think we planned to just ignore him, do you?" he asked Sasuke. "We had access to more information than you did and were doing what was best for the village. Would you have behaved the same if you knew it would lead to the deaths of innocent villagers?"

"Orochimaru causes death and despair on a massive level just as a course of living," Sasuke fired back, more than a little angry at the implication. "I find it hard to believe anything that hurts him isn't better for the village in the long run."

"You know that Orochimaru is a former student of mine," Sarutobi replied, "but what you may not realize is that he wasn't born a villain. When I began training him, he was no worse than you or I. In my years I've seen more than just him fall to depravity. I've long thought on it, and I've found one common aspect all of them shared, do you know what it was?"

"Enlighten me," Sasuke replied, curious despite himself.

"Their ties to the village were too shallow," he answered. "They walked many different paths. Some turned to anger and hate, others to apathy. Yet all of them began to care more for their own goals than the good of those around them."

"Even if you won't admit it, you know my brother cared deeply for the village, and he's a wanted man as well," Sasuke argued, taking no small pleasure in poking holes in his sensei's theory.

"We both know it wasn't his ties to the village that made him a missing-nin," he answered without missing a beat. "Besides, even if we end up enemies, I can't truly think anyone a villain whose actions are for the sake of another."

Sasuke didn't want to admit it, but he had a point. It was because Itachi cared too much for his clan that he pretended to be a traitor. Those at fault were the people he was trying to protect, and of course, Orochimaru. The one man Sasuke could never forgive.

"I know you think I'm starting down some dark path, and you're hoping this corny speech will make me see the light," Sasuke declared, deciding to cut to the point. "If it will get this over with, I'll admit that I wasn't thinking terribly of anyone else, or the consequences of my actions. That may have been a mistake, but all I really want is justice. You can worry all you want that my goal will somehow mystically turn me into the same kind of monster he is, but I will see that Orochimaru receives it."

"That might be difficult, considering he's already dead," Sarutobi replied, his voice and expression so conflicted that Sasuke couldn't bring himself to doubt them.

"What?" Sasuke asked floundering for a more eloquent response. "How? When?"

"He was killed earlier today by the very man you tried to stop from meeting with him," he answered. "Just imagine; if you had succeeded Orochimaru would still be alive. I figure that fact will make you think harder on the consequences of disobeying those who better understand the situation than any lecture Asuma can come up with."

Sasuke didn't know how to feel about that. He should be thrilled that justice was meted out, just as he'd wanted, but he couldn't help but feel cheated that it just happened without him being involved at all. It also brought up plenty of questions. Had he been wrong about Naruto working with Orochimaru, or had the two of them simply come into conflict over some point?

"Why did he kill him?" Sasuke queried. "Was that the plan all along? Was this just a big act?"

"You don't have the clearance to hear the full story," the old man replied. "But hopefully you've learned your lesson from your earlier actions and will keep what you think you know on the matter to yourself. There are plans within plans within plans that you don't know a thing about."

"And how am I supposed to know the right decision to make if you won't tell me what's really going on?" Sasuke growled, annoyed by the non-answer.

"You could just not worry about it so much," he told Sasuke. "You have plenty of time to concern yourself with such things in the future. You're young, with most of your life still ahead of you. Learn to live it a little. Find a hobby, make friends, fall in love. You have endless options available to you. Don't focus so completely on just one aspect of your life. You'll be happier if you do, and it's the best way to ensure you don't walk the same path Orochimaru did. Now, I won't make you suffer through my 'corny' speeches any further, so good luck with life."

What stupid advice. Sasuke was just glad his mother hadn't heard that lecture. He was certain she'd take his advice to heart and pester Sasuke endlessly about it. Still, Sasuke was a ninja. He didn't have time for friends or hobbies. He may have only lost to Naruko because he had been overconfident, but he had to admit that she was good. If he wasted time on useless matters, he might actually fall behind her. There was no way he wanted a loss to her that wasn't just a fluke. No, their next match would have a very different ending.

* * *

Ino and Sakura had finally managed to locate Naruko, having found her just wandering around town. Nor had locating their friend been the only result of their search, as they'd learned about Naruto's amazing escape from four jonin including Ino's own father. Their search had become somewhat more frantic at the point as they'd feared Naruto might target his sister as revenge for ratting him out, so they were greatly relieved to see her unharmed.

In fact, she looked much better than she had the last time Ino had seen her, although Ino couldn't be certain she wasn't just bottling her emotions up and hiding them now. Regardless, Ino had no shortage of questions she was dying to ask about everything that was going on.

"So, who exactly is Naruto anyway?" Ino asked the other girl, barely even waiting to exchange greetings. "I don't care whose son he is, no one gets good enough to do what he did living as a priest or monk or whatever he was."

"To be fair, I think he really did spend a lot of his life living in a temple," Naruko answered defensively. "There were just other parts of his life he kept to himself."

"What parts were those?" Ino pressed her. "Who trained him?"

"It's not like he told me all his secrets," Naruko answered about as meekly as she'd ever heard her speak.

"Well, start talking," Ino insisted, not at all pleased with the verbal runaround she was getting. "What exactly do you know? And why did you go to Shikamaru of all people instead of coming to talk with us?"

"Stop with the twenty questions already," Sakura cut in harshly. "Naruko doesn't need this after everything she's been through today."

Guiltily Ino realized that Sakura was right. She was still bothered by the fact that Naruko hadn't come to them. The only reason she could think of was that there was something she didn't want her friends to know, and it ticked her off that she would still wall herself off from them like that. Even so, that paled in comparison to rough times Naruko must have had these past few hours, so Ino could probably stand to give her a pass _this_ time. Of course that didn't mean she'd given up on getting some answers, just that she'd be a bit less confrontational about getting them.

"Hey, Naruko!" Kiba called out loudly as he came running up with Akamaru right beside him. Turning around he called out back to where Hinata was following him. "I told you I'd find her. This nose can track anyone."

Ino was annoyed to be interrupted. Hinata being here was fine, but it was unlikely she'd get anything out of Naruko if she didn't chase Kiba off.

"So, did you hear the news about Naruto?" Kiba asked cheerfully, earning him a quick blow to the head from Sakura that sent him sprawling.

"Show a little consideration," Sakura told him angrily. "This is a sensitive topic."

Kiba muttered angrily to himself as he got back to his feet. It was quiet enough that Ino couldn't quite make out the words, but with what little she did catch, she had no doubt he would have earned himself a second blow if he'd spoken a little louder.

"Um, I don't know the details of what's going on," Hinata informed them, "but I don't think Kiba had any idea he was saying anything wrong."

"So, what is your news then?" Naruko asked clearly interested in what he might have heard.

"Well, I was just hanging around town when I noticed a couple of ANBU looking very agitated," Kiba began, eagerly spinning his tale now that he had an audience. "Interested, I casually made my way past them. They were whispering to themselves, but they must have been more worked up than I'd thought, because they should know better than to underestimate an Inuzuka's ear."

"Yeah, yeah, you were eavesdropping on people you shouldn't have been, get to the point already," Ino demanded impatiently.

"Okay, but don't be surprised if this blows you away," Kiba said, not deflated in the least as he continued to build up to his reveal. "Orochimaru is dead, and it was none other than Naruto who was behind it, with the help of that tokubetsu jonin chick from the Chunin Exams."

"Orochimaru is dead?" Naruko cried out in surprise, while Ino was still too shocked to speak.

Escaping a few jonin was one thing, but actually killing a man like Orochimaru, even if he did have some help from Anko? Just who exactly was Naruto?

"Maybe the whole thing was just a trap for Orochimaru?" Sakura suggested hopefully. "You know, fool his friends and make a scene so the whole thing is believable. If that's true, then he'll probably be back in the village in no time."

"I need to find out more details," Naruko told them starting to run off but not escaping before Ino grabbed her sleeve.

"You're not running off on your own again," Ino insisted, not about to allow any argument on the subject.

"Fine," Naruko said with a nod, "but let's get going."

Releasing Naruko, she followed after the other blonde as she hurried off. She'd expected at least a token protest. Maybe there was hope for their friend yet.

* * *

Minato was finally satisfied he'd done all he could to prepare against possible retaliation for Orochimaru's death. At least for now it appeared as if Kabuto were keeping his word. Those Minato had watching the Oto forces reported having spotted him in the camp, yet the foreign ninja had continued on their current path and would soon leave the Land of Fire completely. Now that he had a moment to catch his breath, it was time to meet with those responsible for this recent flurry of activity. At his command, Naruto and Anko were lead into his office.

"About time you spoke to us directly," Anko told him without the slightest hint of concern for her present situation. Not that expected otherwise from her. "I was getting tired of telling the same story over and over again. You'd think your men didn't believe me."

"They shouldn't," Minato replied. "I certainly don't. I'm supposed to accept that all of this was your idea? You didn't even know about his meeting with Orochimaru and Naruto had no reason to tell you. Sure you probably encouraged this once you got wind of it in the chaos, but that was after Naruto had already agreed to go over to Orochimaru. Don't think killing him makes all of that okay. You have no idea the problems you may have caused Konoha with that one action."

"Hey now!" Anko interrupted angrily. "You can call me a liar for everything else I said, but killing Orochimaru was all me. It was my idea and it was my hand that did it. I'm not about to let you take that away from me. And don't pretend for a minute this isn't the best thing that's happened for Konoha in years."

As much as he didn't appreciate the interruption, Minato couldn't exactly disagree with her assessment. Given they were all safely out of the village and being watched, Minato doubted even the worst possible reaction by the remaining Oto-nin could match whatever Orochimaru had been plotting. Sure there was potential diplomatic fallout as well.

Killing the leader of an 'allied' power wasn't looked brightly upon even in the ninja world. Still, Naruto wasn't actually affiliated with Konoha, and Anko was the man's former pupil with a known grudge against him. Even with the natural suspicion the other nations would have to any claims they made, it was quite likely they would believe they'd acted independently, especially if Oto didn't contest the claim. If all went well, they could have done Konoha a huge favor.

"Even if that's true, does that mean I'm supposed to trust him?" he asked Anko. "He's shown no real love for Konoha. He may not mean us any harm now, but will that last any longer than it takes the next psychopath to show up and offer him something he wants?"

"Look, I know you don't like me, and I'm a bit tired of this back and forth between us," Naruto told him, finally speaking up himself. "So if you want me gone, just say the word and I'll leave. I just came here hoping to learn a thing or two, but I doubt there's much hope of that anymore, so what's the point of even sticking around?"

"I'd like to discuss that very matter with you further," Minato replied to him, "but I'd like to do so alone. I have more to say to you as well Anko, but we'll continue that discussion later."

Anko visibly bristled at the dismissal, but for once didn't talk back, as she left the two men alone and closed the door behind her. Waiting until he was satisfied she'd actually left rather than try to eavesdrop he gathered his thoughts on the matter he wanted to discuss next. Namely Naruko. Minato knew his wife trusted the girl completely and without any reservation. That nature of hers was one of the things he loved about her. Minato, by contrast, couldn't eliminate that sliver of doubt, even if he'd kept that fact from Naruko.

If he analyzed the situation, it was highly unlikely she was anything but as loyal as she claimed to be. She was an amazing actor if she'd managed to fool him, and her actions in turning on her own creator strongly supported her loyalty. There was also the fact that Naruto didn't seem the overly malicious type to begin with, difficult as he was to wrap his mind around.

Here was a man who looked younger than him yet was centuries old. He was a legendary figure that was always portrayed as a pacifist thanks to his writings being completely devoid of violent techniques. Despite that, he had defeated a man as dangerous as Orochimaru in combat.

Naruto was still an enigma. He couldn't help but carry over some small portion of distrust for the man to Naruko. Perhaps this whole thing had been a plot just to make him trust girl, as unlikely as that seemed. There were any number of other disturbing possibilities that flitted through his mind, each more implausible then the last, but leaving their impact nonetheless.

All that said, there was one thing it didn't change in the least. He cared for the young girl who'd become a part of Konoha and later his team. Even if she did end up betraying the village, he doubted that would ever change completely, a theory supported by the Sandaime's own reaction to Orochimaru's death. Which brought him to the main issue he wanted to address.

"What are your intentions toward Naruko given that she informed us of your plan?" Minato asked him sharply.

"That was her?" Naruto replied, sounding genuinely surprised. "I mean I suppose there wasn't anyone else who could have. I just kept toying with the idea you'd spied on our conversation somehow because I couldn't fully believe she was capable of it."

"Because you created her to be your tool?" Minato asked more than a little bitterly. "You may not have realized it, but she's grown to be her own person."

"Yeah, she must have," Naruto agreed. "But even now it's hard to see how that happened. Just how much did she tell you?"

"I know you're far older than you appear to be," Minato answered, "and that it really was you, rather than your father that I chased out of town more than once. Now answer the question. What are your intentions?"

"I won't promise you there won't be harsh words exchanged," Naruto told him. "I admit I'm not very happy about having my trust betrayed and my secrets revealed. On the other hand, if you're worried I'm going to kill her or something, don't be. That's not my style."

"If so, then you can stay," Minato informed him.

"What?" Naruto asked. "You've been looking for any excuse to get rid of me, and now that you have the perfect one you're letting me stay?"

"That was when I feared you might be working with Orochimaru," Minato clarified. "I have a better understanding of your motivations now. I may worry that you'll be manipulated into helping our enemies, but that's all the more likely if you're away from Konoha where it's easier for them to meet with you. I could throw you into a cell and let you rot for a while, but I'm showing some consideration for the fact that even when attacked you've never seriously attempted to harm anyone. Besides, as old as you are, even a couple of decades in prison might not mean much to you, but I doubt it would endear you to Konoha."

"I appreciate the hospitality," Naruto answered, "but as I said before I'm not even sure I want to stick around."

"I won't shed any tears if you do leave," Minato assured him, voice turning cold, "but stay or go, if you so much as _try_ to harm Naruko, or anyone else in the village as an act of vengeance, I will hunt you down myself and see that you don't live to regret it."

"I already told you, that won't be a concern," Naruto replied dismissively. "Now is there anything else you need from me?"

"No," Minato answered. "You can go."

Minato didn't like having to be as harsh as he'd just been with Naruto, but he just didn't know how else to deal with the man at the moment. He didn't hate Naruto or anything; the man was just a powerful unknown factor who'd taken an interest in Konoha. Still, he'd meant every word in his final threat. He may give him the benefit of the doubt, but that would be gone the instant he tried to harm anyone Minato cared about.

* * *

After they'd confirmed the truth of Kiba's claim and discovered Naruto _was _back in the village, it had taken everything Naruko had to convince the other genin to let her meet with Naruto alone. Now she'd located him, but hadn't yet worked up the courage to actually address him as he walked back toward his home.

She knew she needed his help if she were to survive, but considering how they'd last parted and what she'd done since then, Naruko wasn't looking forward to the conversation at all. Maybe it would be better to wait a few days and let everything blow over. On the other hand, she was also dying to know what had happened regarding the jutsu Naruto had hoped to learn from Orochimaru.

While she was still trying to decide what to with Naruto, someone else made their presence known to him. Someone who was wearing the standard Akatsuki uniform. Naruko stayed hidden, deciding to watch how this unfolded. If Naruto threw his lot in with another criminal organization the minute he'd cleared up the Orochimaru thing, she didn't know what she'd do to him, but it wouldn't be pretty.

* * *

For the third time since Naruto arrived in Konoha he found his way blocked by Uchiha Itachi. The man certainly didn't seem to have any trouble finding him when he wanted to, much to Naruto's dismay. This was about the last thing he needed right now.

"You can just leave me alone," Naruto called out without waiting to hear from him. "I just got burned trying to make a deal with Orochimaru. I'm not in the mood for trying my luck again today."

"I suggest you at least hear us out before you make a decision," Itachi replied. "You must be curious how we know so much about you. Follow me and you'll have the answer to that and many other questions."

Itachi started to depart without even waiting for Naruto's answer, a fact that annoyed him considerably. Still, he had to admit that he had more than a passing curiosity as to what Akatsuki wanted with him. Nor were they likely to give up just because he didn't go along with them today. Growling a bit to himself took off after Itachi. He sensed Naruko still following behind him continuing the sort of hiding sort of not hiding thing she'd been doing for a while now. He considered chasing her off, but it might actually be best to let her follow him. He didn't plan to agree with anything Akatsuki offered him, and it might turn out worthwhile to have a witness to that effect that the Yondaime actually trusted.

Even just following the man, Naruto had to say he was impressed. Naruto still took pride in his ability to completely erase his presence, but when it came to avoiding detection when moving through a town, he could learn a lot from Itachi. He'd come across a busy intersection and in a burst of speed be across to the other side before anyone spotted him. And as they passed people, he just never seemed to be there when anyone looked his way. Somehow, he even managed to make the whole thing look natural.

He was never ducking behind anything. It was always as if he just happened to be standing behind that pole the blocked him from sight of that woman who was carrying her groceries home. Naruto did wonder why he didn't simply disguise himself with a henge, but this was more interesting to watch at the very least.

Somewhat to his surprise, the man didn't lead him out of the village but instead to one of Konoha's training grounds. It looked to be currently unoccupied, save for a single figure standing in the middle of it. This resolved itself to be a woman with grey hair that was done up in a tight bun similar to how Koharu had kept her hair.

Though she looked to be at least a decade more youthful than the woman whose style she shared. Naruto would probably peg her age at around fifty. At first he thought she was just a random villager, especially as she wore a simple brown dress rather than Akatsuki's signature cloak. That notion was quickly dispelled when Itachi lead him right to woman who was now openly staring at him.

"I thought Itachi was mistaken or lying to me, but it really is you," she declared excitedly.

"I'm sorry, but should I know you?" Naruto asked, somehow getting the impression he should, but not being able to figure out from where.

"I almost forgot, some of us don't age as well as you do," she said cheerfully before reaching up to the back of her head and undoing the bun. "Maybe this will help."

Naruto didn't see how it would until one particular section of her hair in the back left, released from its hold, sprung up to form a very noticeable spike in complete defiance of the subdued nature of the rest of her hair. Immediately Naruto's jaw dropped as he began staring at her as intently as she'd been at him.

"It can't be," he said weakly. "How would that even be possible?"

"You're one to talk," she answered with a smirk. "But I suppose you probably remember me looking more like this."

She formed a hand seal and in a flash there was now standing a black-haired woman looking to be around twenty who was far more familiar than the figure he'd first been greeted with.

"Harumi," he said, practically in shock. "It really is you."

"Grandfather," she replied joyfully, running up and almost tackling him as she wrapped her arms around him in a fierce hug. Naruto quickly returned it warmly before he began to grow edgy as the initial surprise started to wear off and the guilt started to sink in.

"What's wrong?" she asked him, noticing the change in his demeanor.

"I'm thrilled to see you of course," Naruto assured her. "It's just that the last time we were together was when I abandoned you despite you begging me not to. I guess I feel like I deserve a much colder greeting than the one you gave me."

"Don't think I wasn't angry at you for a while when you left," Harumi told him as she released her grip on him. "But I got over it much quicker than you'd think. I wouldn't even be alive if you hadn't given up your chance to be with Grandmother to save Nanami and me. Then for twenty years you put off your vengeance on those who killed her to raise me. I couldn't stay angry at you for finally deciding to do something a little selfish after all you'd sacrificed."

Her words meant a great deal to Naruto. His leaving Harumi was one of the biggest regrets of his life, and it was a great comfort that she hadn't come to hate him for it. He did notice that she still refused to refer to Nanami as her mother, but maybe he could offer the healing on that front for her.

"I did see your mother again before she died," Naruto told her. "She made me promise to tell you that she was sorry for how she'd treated you. She knew what she'd done was wrong and regretted having ever done it. I'd long since given up on ever keeping that promise, but I'm glad I had the chance."

"That ... actually does mean a lot to me," Harumi admitted slightly stunned by his words. "But forgive me if I'm not as quick to forgive her as I was you. Giving birth to me is about the only I can really be thankful to her for."

"That's your decision," Naruto agreed, not going to push her knowing full well what his daughter had put Harumi through. "Now tell me, how are you even still alive?"

"That's a bit of a story," she answered, "but one I'd be happy to tell. First off you should know that my name is now Uchiha Harumi."

"Uchiha?" Naruto queried. "You married an Uchiha?"

"That's right," she said with a sad smile. "I actually possess the very first sharingan. As best as I can tell, some combination of your genes and the energy you used to heal Nanami before my birth caused my byakugan to transform. Even the energy it gave off felt very much like the feeling I got from being around you. Now I went through some fairly harsh times after you left. So … well … this is a little embarrassing, but I used to wrap myself in that energy a lot back then as a sort of comfort because of how much it reminded me of you."

"I'm sorry," Naruto interrupted, saddened once again to hear this tale. "It all comes back to my leaving you."

"Stop that," Harumi said sternly. "I already told you I forgive you. Besides, it was the result of my own poor decisions, and I could have made them just as easily with you around as with you gone. Now to continue, I eventually noticed that I was aging slower than I should have been. It didn't take me too long to realize it was a side effect of using the sharingan's power as a sort of a chakra comfort blanket. Eventually I mastered it enough to keep the effect up even when I sleep, and I haven't aged since."

This news was just far too amazing. Living as long as he did as everyone else grew old and died was a lonely ordeal, but if Harumi was around he suspected it wouldn't be nearly as trying. Even if achieving his goal took centuries more, that no longer seemed quite as terrible a prospect.

"So tell me," Naruto asked. "What have you been up to all these centuries?"

"I spent a lot of it looking for you," Harumi said wryly. "I found places you'd already been on more than one occasion, but I really wish you'd have stayed in one place a little longer."

"I'll have you know that I spent a century living in a cave and not going anywhere," Naruto quipped. "How much longer did you want me to stay put? Anyway, there must be more to tell than that. You said you got married. I want to hear the details."

"That ties in to the bad choices I told you I made," Harumi said with a sigh. "It didn't turn out nearly as well as your own marriage. I fell in love with a man only a couple of years after you'd left. I thought he loved me as well, but it turned out he was more interested in using my eyes to make the Uchiha into a powerful clan. I only had a few short years before I realized the truth about him, and during that time I had two sons. It all began to fall apart when the older of the two wasn't quite three. I wanted to look for you, but my husband didn't want me wasting time when I _should_ be trying to awaken the sharingan in our sons. We had several arguments and eventually one morning I awoke to find the three of them were gone."

"That's terrible!" Naruto exclaimed, suddenly feeling a strong hate for the man, despite Naruto never having met him or the fact that he was long dead.

"I won't argue with that," she said with a nod. "I spent many years searching for my husband, my children, and you. I finally did find my sons, but they were already grown and married with children of their own. Their father had passed away from some illness years ago, so I never did have the opportunity to square things away with him. As for them, our reunion was more than a little awkward. They had their own families and had been raised to care about strengthening their clan almost as much as their father had. I visited them frequently, but was never truly able to connect with them again."

"So the entire Uchiha Clan is made of your descendants?" Naruto asked, hoping to change the subject to something that wouldn't depress her so much to talk about.

"Yes, and they're your descendants as well," Harumi reminded him. "I kept in close contact with the clan and even worked directly with a number of them over the years. At least until the Madara incident."

"Speaking of Madara, what's your connection with Akatsuki?" Naruto asked. "Itachi had claimed he was arranging a meeting with Akatsuki's leader who I'd been led to believe was Madara."

"My connection started way back when you were still hunting them down," she answered. "I got myself a cloak and pretended to be a member hoping you would seek me out. Unfortunately, it didn't work out, and eventually it became clear the real members were gone. Still, I did a lot of thinking, and as radical as the original group was, I did agree with them on one point. The Biju do not belong in this world. So I reformed the organization. I certainly wasn't going to try to kill you like the old version did, so I focused our efforts on finding a way to deal with the Biju directly."

An approach Naruto had certainly considered on his own at times. Although if what the Kyubi told him was correct, it was one that had little chance of solving his problem. Forcing them back into their own realm would just drag him along as well.

"The membership changed dramatically over the years," she continued. "I kept the organization small, but given how long it's been, I worked with over one hundred people in pursuit of that goal. Out of all of them, Uchiha Madara was the most promising by far. I taught him almost everything I knew, and he soaked it up like a sponge. However, it turned out he'd been hiding his own agenda all along. Rather than ridding ourselves of the Biju, he wanted to bend them to his own will. We had a rather violent falling out, and I immediately disbanded the organization. After a betrayal like that, I lost my taste for company and decided to continue my work alone."

"And Madara decided to keep it going in your stead?" Naruto asked.

"No, he reformed it himself rather recently," Harumi replied. "I'm not affiliated with it at all any longer. The only reason there's any confusion is because this brat here managed to find me and insists on acting as if I'm still running Akatsuki with him as its newest member. I keep telling him I work alone now, but he just doesn't listen."

"I'd almost forgotten about you, Itachi, with how quiet you've been," Naruto told the younger Uchiha.

"I didn't wish to interrupt," he answered calmly.

"While we're on the topic of our audience, who's been trying to hide behind that target all this time?" she asked him, pointing at wood board shaped like a human and nailed to a big a post.

"Oh, that's just Naruko," he answered casually before calling out in the direction of said target. "Why don't you come out and say hello?"

Naruko complied with his request looking quite embarrassed at being caught. Her behavior still had him confused to no end, but Harumi spoke up before he could inquire about it.

"So, is this your daughter?" she asked, having obviously noticed the resemblance.

"Of course not," Naruto sputtered out quickly. "I would never betray Hanabi like that."

"Most people do consider it acceptable to remarry after the death of a loved one," Harumi informed him. "You may find this a bit scandalous, but I even know a few who waited less than a century."

"Well I never have. What about you?" Naruto asked trying to deflect away the attention.

"With how poorly my first marriage went, I wasn't eager to try again," Harumi answered. "Besides, even if a henge makes me look like this, my body isn't exactly young anymore. You're still in your prime though. You should go out and enjoy yourself a bit more."

"Anyway, Naruko is my own creation, a special kind of clone," Naruto answered, deciding to change the subject completely. "And she should be able to hide herself far better than she was doing."

"Well excuse me if I'm not as good as I used to be," Naruko snapped at him. "It's all because your stupid construct is falling apart."

"Falling apart?" Naruto asked curiously. "There's no way it should be falling apart to any noticeable degree so soon."

"Yeah, well, you didn't make it very sturdy," she explained. "One shock from some crazy seal in one of Orochimaru's old labs and the whole thing starts to fall apart."

"Let me have a look at it," Naruto said, placing a hand on her shoulder without even waiting for a reply. He was having trouble believing her explanation and so he was going to dig down with his senses and have a look. What he saw, however, almost made him doubt for a moment that it really was Naruko. He probably would have if the shattered remains of his construct weren't still there to be found.

"Well, you were right," Naruto admitted. "The whole thing is completely destroyed."

"Wait, it can't be completely destroyed," Naruko responded in confusion. "I wouldn't be alive if it were."

"You're still alive because you're the proud owner of your very own soul," Naruto informed her. "I just haven't the slightest idea how that happened. I mean it's possible the construct or even the body itself might have some sort of attractive force on a soul, but even if it did pull one in they'd reject each other and kill the person."

"What if the soul came from a fetus?" Naruko asked.

"Hmm ... a blank slate if you will," Naruto said thoughtfully, considering the possibility. "I would have bet heavily against it working even if I were trying to make it happen. That all of this just happened on its own seems highly implausible. Yet here we are. I can give out theories all day, but if reality says otherwise, who am I to argue?"

"So ... I'm going to live?" Naruko asked hopefully.

"Well, this is all uncharted territory, so I can't say anything with complete certainty," he replied. "Still, nothing I saw looked at all unstable, and if any rejection were going to occur, I'd assume it would have happened immediately. I must admit this does explain the dramatic personality shift you went through recently."

Naruko, however, didn't seem to be paying much attention to him anymore, being lost in thought if her dazed yet somehow cheerful expression were any indication.

"That's great news, Aunt Naruko," Harumi said, snapping Naruko out of it with her playful teasing.

"Naruto already told you, he's not my father," Naruko answered brusquely.

"Well, it seems you're a living being now, complete with a soul, and Naruto was the one responsible for that," Harumi argued. "What else can that make him but your father, Aunt Naruko?"

"You're not going to let that go are you?" Naruko asked with a sigh.

"I don't see any reason to," she answered. "Now, I'm sure the purpose behind Naruko's existence makes for an interesting narrative, and I've already been giving you my life story. Why don't you tell me a little bit about what you've been up to?"

"I'd love to, but why don't we move to some place a bit more comfortable?" Naruto suggested. "I have a place in town that should be much better for a long night of swapping tales than this training ground."

"That sounds lovely," Harumi answered. "Will you be joining us Aunt Naruko?"

"I'll let you two catch up with each other," she answered. "I need to go let my friends know how this went pretty quickly or they're liable to hunt me down again."

"I have other things to do as well," Itachi told them.

"Well then, it looks like it's just the two of us," Naruto said to Harumi.

"Lead on," she told him. "I'm eager to hear all about your life since last we met."

And Naruto was just as eager to tell her. He had several lifetimes' worth of stories he'd never thought he'd have the chance to tell, so he wasn't going to pass up this opportunity. He may have started this day hoping to see his wife again, but he found he couldn't complain about being reunited with his granddaughter instead.

* * *

Anko was glad to be free again. Another minute of listening to lectures and she might have tried to fight her way out. If the Yondaime weren't bad enough, the Sandaime had shown up and started saying his piece as well. Then they had the gall to say they were letting her off with only a reprimand this time. In what world was listening to the two of the rattle on about responsibility and the chain of command not considered a punishment?

Anyway, she wasn't going to let them ruin her day. Anko knew she had done the right thing and she was in the mood to celebrate. Kurenai was out on a mission, and considering her social life, that didn't leave her a lot of choices unless she wanted to party alone. Come to think of it, barring the occasional fling, Kurenai was the only person she'd ever taken out for a night on the town. Ah well, she'd just drag Naruto along, even if he did start whining about his dead wife. Drinking alone just wasn't much of a celebration and if he couldn't handle a little socializing without feeling he was betraying her memory, then she was only doing him a favor by helping him get past that.

So she quickly made her way Naruto's place, letting herself in and being greeted with a sight that made her see red. Naruto wasn't alone in the room, instead being joined by a black-haired woman maybe a couple years younger than she was. She also noticed that his companion was rather attractive. Not as hot as Anko herself, but more than enough to catch men's eyes. And she'd done just that with Naruto if the way she was leaning against him as the two of them shared of laugh over something was any indication.

Anko may not have moved beyond simple flirting, but if Naruto had brushed her off with a lie like that while he was secretly seeing someone, he'd pay the price in the flesh she'd carve from his body. Not about to just stand there gaping, Anko announced her presence, watching Naruto pull his hand back to avoid her greeting and let the kunai pin itself to the table the two of them sat at.

"Still miss your wife too much to think of doing anything with another woman, huh?" Anko asked threateningly.

"Don't get the wrong idea, we're family," Naruto told her calmly, cooling Anko's temper a bit.

"I suppose that's technically true," the girl said as she sat up straight, not looking at all concerned with the way Anko had introduced herself. "Still, I believe you'd have to go back over five hundred years to find a common ancestor of ours."

"Family huh?" Anko said, anger flaring back up to even higher levels than before. To think she'd actually been happy to hear that the Yondaime was letting him stay in Konoha.

"In fact, I was just trying to convince him to run away with me," she added.

"Maybe he should take you up on that offer," Anko suggested, "because it's not going to safe for him around here anymore."

"What are you trying to do to me, Harumi?" Naruto asked, having the decency to at least seem worried for his safety even if he wasn't at the 'wetting himself in terror' level she would have preferred.

"I'm sorry," Harumi replied, laughing a bit as she did. "I was just having a little fun. There's not actually anything going on between us."

Anko looked between the two of them trying to judge the veracity of that claim by their reaction.

"Although I really am trying to get Naruto to run away with me," Harumi declared, latching onto his arm.

Naruto quickly pulled it away, protesting her behavior. Based on the little she'd just seen, Anko decided they probably weren't in a relationship. Although it's possible Harumi wanted one. Or maybe she was just toying with Anko for her own private amusement. Either way, the fact that she was playing her little games almost made Anko want to snatching Naruto away just to spite her.

Of course that would be difficult to do when she hardly knew anything about what was going on. Who was Harumi to Naruto? They most likely had known each other for some time given how comfortable Naruto had been around her when Anko had first walked in. Anko just didn't know, and as such it was best not to stick around. It would be too easy for Harumi to continue making a fool of her considering she held all the cards. It was time for a strategic retreat.

"Well, I just came by to thank you again for all your help. We make a great team," Anko declared, starting to walk out before looking back over her shoulder to add one final remark. "Oh, and if you do want to take her up on her offer, you may want to avoid kissing her. You're lousy at it and she might change her mind."

With that she walked out the door and took off. Even in retreat Anko wasn't the type to leave without getting in a few blows of her own. Although now she was alone for the rest of the night. Still, she wasn't going to let that ruin her mood. She'd go out, drink herself into a stupor, make a big scene and start a fight or two. She'd have a grand old time.

* * *

Naruto awoke with a start when the seals he had warding his home warned him of an intruder. Being awoken when it was still dark did not do much for Naruto's mood considering how late he and Harumi had stayed up talking. For a second he considered if it was just Harumi going for a walk, since he had set her up to spend the night in his spare room. However, his senses quickly discovered it was someone new rapidly making their way up to his room. Someone who seemed to be a jinchuriki for the Nibi based on what he was picking up.

Naruto didn't have long to wonder if the person was hostile as a blonde-haired woman charged into his room while the Nibi's chakra flared to extreme heights. Naruto threw himself out of his bed, dodging to the side as it was sliced to pieces by long thin claws that were growing from her fingernails.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" Naruto demanded of his assailant. He was glad he'd slept in his clothes tonight. It would have been a lot harder to sound threatening if he were standing there half naked.

"I want you dead," she answered, ignoring his first question. "If you're killed, the Biju leave and there's no more need for jinchuriki."

"There is still time," a voice he hadn't heard in a long time added. "Fulfill your promise and take part in the ritual."

It took Naruto a moment to realize that it was the Nibi, speaking directly to his mind.

"As I've told the Kyubi more times than I care to remember, I'm not playing along," Naruto answered aloud. "I'm working on a way to send you back without getting taken along for the ride myself. If you're so eager to return, help me."

"We've waited long enough," the Nibi replied. "The Kyubi may be willing to wait until the end of time for you to come around, but others of us cannot withstand this realm as well as he can. We intend to return even if it means helping Yugito kill you."

It was interesting to learn that there was dissension in the ranks of the Biju, but there was little time to find out more as Harumi rushed into the room already making hand seals. The woman Naruto assumed was Yugito saw her as well and moved to confront this new threat. Naruto went to aid his granddaughter, who had dropped the henge at some point since they'd last seen each other, but he needn't have worried.

Harumi ducked under the first slash of claws as her hand dashed out, jamming her fingertips into Yugito's stomach. The symbols of the seal glowed orange briefly as they burned small holes in her shirt before solidifying on the skin beneath. The result of the seal was obvious as the Nibi's chakra was cut down to almost nothing and the claws coming from Yugito's hands returned to being ordinary fingernails.

"You're working with _her_?" the Nibi raged in his head, the seal apparently unable to stop their communication. "And to think I was willing to be merciful. I should rip you to shreds as painfully as possible!"

"The Nibi doesn't seem to like you," Naruto told Harumi, knowing she probably hadn't heard that.

"I can't imagine it would," Harumi replied casually. "I am the one who first developed a way to seal them, and I've been working on a way to destroy them completely. Not an easy task I might add. I've tried a few times with the Ichibi, but no matter how thorough you think you are in the destruction, it just reforms itself eventually. The only permanent effect I've noticed is that it seemed to speed its descent into madness."

Naruto hadn't been aware that she'd gone that far in pursuit of her own goals. They'd certainly taken very different approaches to the problem of the Biju, and Naruto wasn't certain he was entirely comfortable with Harumi's approach. Their complete destruction had never been something he'd truly wanted, even if he had considered it at times when he was particularly frustrated. Even assuming you didn't ever want the Biju around again, Naruto would prefer to trap them in their own realm rather than wipe them out.

"I don't need the Nibi's power to kill you," Yugito shouted out, not having been calmed by the loss of power.

Naruto didn't know what she planned to try, as she'd not so much as taken her first step when Itachi hit her with a blow from behind, knocking her to the floor. While she was still stunned, he pulled out some metallic wire and bound her hands behind her back. Coming to her senses, Yugito tested her bonds, but when they didn't give she must have finally realized that the fight was over. Judging by the way she was looking around, she hadn't yet given up the thought of escape, but the three of them had her surrounded, and she was biding her time for now.

"You got here pretty fast," Naruto noted of Itachi. He'd given Harumi a room for the night, but Itachi had been staying elsewhere.

"I was nearby and this commotion was difficult to miss," he answered.

"I'll say," a new voice added, which caught Naruto completely by surprise as his seals hadn't warned him of anyone entering after Itachi. Yet two figures now stood there, both wearing Akatsuki cloaks. One of them he recognized as Kisame, but he had no idea who the one who'd spoken was. Not that he had much to go on with that weird orange mask he was wearing. Harumi, on the other hand, tensed up at the sight of him.

"Madara," she snarled out angrily. "What are you doing here?"

"I was just following your friend there," he answered pointing at Yugito. "When I found out she was headed for Konoha, I was worried she would end up getting herself killed, which wouldn't have fit well with my plan. Still, I never expected her to lead me to you again. And do my eyes deceive me, or did you actually find the old man?"

"I don't know what's going on here," Kisame interjected, "but are we grabbing the girl or not?"

"You're not taking anyone," Harumi insisted.

"I'd like to see you stop us," Kisame responded maliciously.

"I understand I'm not exactly in a position to demand much, but I'd appreciate it if you'd stop arguing over me like I'm not even here," Yugito exclaimed in frustration.

"Calm down Kisame," Madara told him, ignoring the jinchuriki's outburst. "We're retreating for now."

"What, why?" the blue-skinned man asked in confusion.

"For one, we're not even ready for the Nibi yet," Madara answered, then casually walked right up to Itachi, ignoring the threatening glares Harumi was sending him. "Also, you do realize that this is Uchiha Itachi, right?"

"That does make this more interesting," Kisame said with a smile. "But if you handle him, I can take the other two."

"Is that so?" Madara asked. "Because out of the three of them, he's the one I'm least concerned with."

"Really?" Kisame asked, getting into a defensive stance and eying them warily. "Just who are they?"

"I'll explain later," he answered. "Half the ninja in Konoha must have sensed the Nibi. If we don't get out of here we'll find ourselves with more than just them to deal with. Still, leaving the Nibi in their hands isn't a pleasant idea."

As he said this, he reached down and grabbed Yugito's arm. Harumi and Itachi were both in motion almost as soon as he was, each trying to stab him with kunai. However, both of them passed through nothing but air as the Madara and Yugito vanished, reappearing a moment later next to Kisame. Madara snagged the man with his other hand and then all three disappeared. It had looked a lot like the Yondaime's hiraishin. That explained how he got in without Naruto's seals picking it up.

"Did you teach him that?" Naruto asked Harumi.

"No, that one is new," Harumi answered with a grimace.

This time his wards did go off warning Naruto of two more intruders. He sensed them quickly climb the stairs and was momentarily greeted by the faces of the Sandaime and the Yondaime. For once, his entrance didn't terribly concern Naruto. Harumi had easily been able to convince him the previous night to leave Konoha with her.

Not only had she been learning ninjutsu for centuries, she'd focused her studies around the Biju. Naruto doubted there was a better source to learn from on the planet, and she would happily teach him everything she knew. So it hardly mattered at all how the Yondaime reacted, and it was nice to be relieved from that burden for once. However, it wasn't Naruto the two of them focused their attention on, but the younger Uchiha.

"What are you doing here, Itachi?" Minato asked.

"There was a brief altercation," he answered, "but our opponents have already escaped."

"I'd like to hear the details, but thank you for dealing with it," Minato told him. "I just wish you were still working for Konoha. You're the most loyal Uchiha we have and an amazing ninja. I'd much rather have you than every last one of the clan members your stunt saved. Still, I understand why you did it and I respect your decision."

"Thank you sir," Itachi answered with a nod.

Naruto was a bit out of the loop on this particular discussion, but kept his silence. He wondered if learning the Uchiha were his descendants should make him care more for what happened to them. On the other hand, other than Harumi, all of them were so far removed from him that they could barely even be considered related. Either way, Naruto couldn't work up much interest in the clan's politics.

"Still, what's with your outfit?" Minato asked him. "You can't expect me to believe you're actually working for Akatsuki now."

"Not the one you're thinking of," Harumi answered for Itachi. "We just chased them off. Truth be told, the Akatsuki he's trying to be a part of doesn't even exist anymore."

"Madara's organization may be the largest threat Konoha has ever faced," Itachi added. "And I believe these two to be the best hope we have of stopping them. I intend to offer them whatever aid I can."

"Now I really need to hear the whole story," Minato said with a sigh. "But you'll have to tell me later. Orders or not, my men won't wait outside forever, and I'd hate to have to act out you being a wanted criminal as you're so determined everyone consider you. But I would appreciate it if you could stop by my office before you leave."

"I assume all of you will be leaving the village together then?" the Sandaime asked.

"That's the plan," Naruto confirmed.

"Then I hope you'll consider allowing us to send someone to aid you," the Sandaime declared. "I believe Anko would be perfect for the job."

"Really, Anko?" Minato asked the older man dubiously.

"It's more for her benefit than ours," he admitted. "Her life's goal was killing Orochimaru. It's not uncommon for ninja to focus so heavily on vengeance. What's much rarer is for those who achieve it to settle back into a normal life. Adjusting isn't a simple matter, and it might be especially hard for Anko given that her life in Konoha has never been particularly easy."

"So you're hoping to distract her with an extended mission and get her out of Konoha at the same time?" Minato asked, comprehension appearing on his face.

"Yes," he replied with a nod. "Also, I've noticed she's grown quite fond of Naruto here, so this mission seems a good fit."

"I'll admit it would be quieter without the half-dozen incident reports or so a week she always seems to be responsible for," Minato quipped. "All right. She can go."

"I still haven't agreed to anything," Naruto pointed out firmly, not exactly eager to have the somewhat erratic young woman around.

"Don't be silly," Harumi cut in. "We'd be delighted to have her along."

"Great," the Sandaime said cheerfully while Naruto shot Harumi a glare, even if it didn't have any real heat behind it. "I'll explain the situation to her and send her along in the morning. Please do look out for her as much as you can. She deserves better than she's had to put up with. Now I suppose we should be going."

Naruto felt he deserved better than what he would have to put up with, but kept that thought to himself. He supposed that if she was too much trouble he could always just send her away.

* * *

After everything that had happened the previous day, Naruko was surprised she'd managed any sleep at all. Still, she'd barely had a chance crawl out of bed when she received a message that Minato wanted to see her. Quickly getting ready, she set out for his office, wondering what it could be about. She was a little nervous that maybe he'd changed his mind about being so accepting of her, but given how well yesterday went, she couldn't help but be optimistic about it. She hadn't gotten far from her apartment when Naruto and Harumi appeared in her path. Idly she noticed the woman had dropped her henge.

Just meeting Harumi again had made an impact on her that was hard to understate. And not because of how much seeing her had meant to Naruko but because of how little it had. It had only taken a glance at Naruto to see that it had shocked him to his very core, but for Naruko she was just some name she remembered with little details to go with it. It was like meeting someone for the first time that she'd only heard of in the passing. Even without the memories, she'd still tended to think as if she was just a variant of Naruto, a Naruto B as it were. This really drilled home just how extreme the divergence had become. They really weren't the same person at all anymore, even if a number of similarities remained.

"There you are, Aunt Naruko," Harumi declared, causing Naruko to look around in worry.

"Please be careful where you say that," she hissed out.

"Don't worry, there's no one around," Harumi replied dismissively. "Anyway we came to tell you that we're leaving."

"Leaving?" Naruko asked. "Where, and for how long?"

"Nowhere in particular and possibly forever," Naruto answered. "So if there's anything you need I suggest you tell us now."

"Don't listen to him. We'll definitely visit when we can," Harumi told her. "But it's true that we may be busy for a while."

"As long as you're sure I'll be fine, I can't think of anything else I need," Naruko told them, after giving it a little thought. "Now forgive me if I cut our farewell short, but I've been summoned by the Hokage."

"All right. Take care," Harumi told her as she started heading off.

Naruto didn't say anything further, but then, neither did she. They probably had one of the oddest relationships of any two people in the world. Naruko just couldn't find herself thinking she would miss him. It's not that she didn't care what happened to him. She just felt that ... well she didn't really understand what she felt or why, she wasn't upset at all by the thought she might not see him for a while. Naruto was quite likely just as confused about the whole situation as she was.

Rather than try to figure it out, she turned her mind back to the reason for her summons. She was working her way through one theory after another, but when she arrived and saw Sasuke, the Sandaime, and Kushina already in the office with Minato, she had to throw all them out. She just didn't know how they would factor in.

"Ah, you're here," Minato said with a nod. "Now I'll cut right to the point. After you performance in the exams you're both being promoted to chunin."

"Congratulations," Kushina said enthusiastically. "But you'd better not slack off now. I expect to see both as jonin within the year."

Mentally Naruko slapped herself. Of course she should have considered that possibility. She couldn't believe that so much had happened the last two days that she'd completely forgotten about the exams.

"That won't be a problem for me," Sasuke boasted, "but it might be asking a bit much for Naruko. She's already all but burned herself out just coming this far."

"Sarutobi should be filling out the appropriate paperwork right now," Minato informed them, cutting in before Naruko could fire a barb back. "So consider this effective immediately."

The Sandaime grumbled something unintelligible in response to this.

"I hope you're not starting with that already," Minato told him. "You still have three months to go."

"I'll never let you talk me into using paperwork as the stakes in a bet again," the Sandaime declared.

Naruko only half paid attention to the speech that Minato gave them concerning their new duties and privileges as she let her mind wander instead. She was now a chunin of Konoha. And today that really meant something to her. This was truly her home now, and she would do her best to live up to her responsibilities and protect that home. Naruto may still be looking for his place in life, but she'd found hers.

* * *

Anko made her way to Naruto's place in no particular hurry. She'd been almost tempted to refuse this mission. The Yondaime may have given it to her, but it had the Sandaime written all over it. She supposed she should be grateful that the old man had never treated her poorly for being Orochimaru's student. Still, it was as if he was always trying to apologize to her for the man instead, and his constant attempts at charity were almost as bad in her book. She could take care of herself just fine.

That said, a secret mission to hunt down some of the most dangerous criminals in existence wasn't the sort of opportunity you got every day. Pride or no, it was just too good to pass up. Of course there was the problem of her companions to consider. Itachi she didn't care about one way or the other; it was Naruto and Harumi she was worried about. If it had just been Naruto she'd be fine with it, but Harumi had rubbed her the wrong way almost the moment they'd met. And if the two of them did get together, Harumi could make it a very unpleasant mission.

She still didn't know much of anything about her. The Yondaime had waved off her questions and told Anko to ask them herself. Anko was even beginning to suspect he didn't know much himself and was simply hiding that fact. Still, she knew now that Harumi was a ninja, which was more than she'd had yesterday. And if she was good enough to come on this mission, it shouldn't be too hard to find out more details. Skilled ninja tended to make a name for themselves. Then again, she hadn't been able to find any history on Naruto and look how good he was. Given their connection, she might turn out the same way.

Ah well, Anko wasn't one to worry overmuch about the future. If something bothered her, she preferred doing something about it to fretting over it. So she cleared it from her mind for now and finished her journey, entering the building to see Naruto and Itachi together with an older woman she didn't recognize.

"Who's the old hag?" she asked, getting a disappointing lack of response from woman in question.

"You remember Harumi, don't you?" Naruto asked in reply. "She's not using a henge today."

"Really?" she asked rhetorically as she processed that piece of information. On the one hand it meant that there was little risk of the two of them hooking up. On the other hand, it meant Harumi had almost certainly just been toying with her, which didn't do much for her opinion of the woman. Actually, another unpleasant thought struck her.

"You aren't using a henge to make yourself look young too, are you?" she asked, already pulling out a kunai and running her finger along the edge. She would not react well to learning of a deception like that. Not after she'd gone so far as to make out with him.

"No, what you see is what he really looks like," Harumi answered.

"Although that does bring up an important question," Naruto cut in. "How much do you know about what we're doing? I want to make sure you know what you're getting in to."

"I know we're going to be hunting down Akatsuki," Anko answered. "Other than that, much less than I'd like. The Yondaime told me next to nothing."

"So you know it will be dangerous?" Naruto asked.

"The best missions are," she answered confidently.

"I have to warn you that we may also face attack from angry jinchuriki," he declared.

"Even better," she told him, suspecting now that he was trying to talk her out of coming. If so, he was taking completely the wrong approach.

"There's one last thing I should tell you, even if it isn't exactly critical to the mission," Naruto continued. "There's no henge involved, but I'm actually much older than I look."

"How old are we talking?" Anko asked. She wanted to think this was some type of prank, but no one, not even Itachi lurking around in the background so much as batted an eyelash at the claim.

"I've kind of lost track," he admitted. "What year is it again?"

"You're five hundred and fifty-two, Grandfather," Harumi answered for him.

"Five hundred and fifty-two? Grandfather?" Anko parroted, completely dumbfounded.

"That's right," he confirmed. "So even if Harumi seems determined to play matchmaker, I'm a bit out of anyone's age range."

"Yeah, what woman could possibly be interested in a man who would stay young and healthy indefinitely?" Harumi quipped. "Grandmother has been gone for over five hundred years. So you'll have to forgive me if I thought it might do you some good to see someone else."

Harumi had been trying to set her up with Naruto? So that whole routine had been an attempt to make her jealous so she'd be more interested. An old trick, if one usually done by the potential match themself. Still, Anko had to admit it might not have been entirely ineffective. Of course that was before she found out he made the Sandaime look like a toddler by comparison. On the other hand, there was something to what Harumi had said about him always looking like he was twenty. And he was loyal to a fault if he was still pining over his first wife after five centuries.

Meh, she was overthinking things again. He was a good looking guy who was pleasant enough to be around. She'd engage in a little mostly harmless flirting and play it by ear. For now, there were other things to concern herself with.

"Can you teach me the trick to staying so young?" Anko asked hopefully.

"I'm afraid it's a bloodline trick," Harumi told her. "So no."

"Looks like it's one you never quite got the hang of," Anko quipped, disappointed at the reply but not so much as to pass up the barb. Whatever Harumi's intentions, Anko still felt she owed her a couple.

"I'll remind you that you said that when you look older than I do," Harumi fired back playfully.

"I think it's time to head out," Naruto declared quickly, in an obvious attempt to keep the peace. "We may not be back to Konoha for quite some time, so if you have anything left to do, I suggest you get it done."

The preparations Anko had to make were few enough. She'd left a message for Kurenai telling her she was leaving on an extended mission, but it's not like there was anyone else who would even miss her. No, Konoha was her home, and she liked the place well enough, but she wasn't going to get weepy over leaving. If anything she was eager to start this trip.

Not only did she have a mission that all but promised to be dangerous and bloody, but just look at who she would be working with. Uchiha Itachi for starters, and she was certain her other two companions who just filled to the brim with secret techniques and other hidden gems. There was a good chance she could convince them to teach her some of their jutsu, which sure beat the self-training she'd done almost exclusively since Orochimaru's treachery.

Yes, this trip could be the second best thing that ever happened to her, after killing Orochimaru of course.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

I'm not going to go into detail in case some of you aren't very current on the manga, but for those who are, it will be obvious that some characters' backstories won't quite match canon. Especially considering this a major AU to begin with, I'm simply not about to change my plans because it doesn't fit the plot twists going on in the manga.

Now, I noticed from a couple of the reviews I got that some of you remembered one of the prime rules of fiction. If you don't see someone die, they probably didn't. In my very early plans for this story, I'd actually intended to get Harumi involved much earlier as a sort of unknown player getting involved in things. Looking it over though, I became convinced it would be far too obvious just who she was, which would spoil much of the effect.

I believe it worked out much better just having Itachi taking much of the role I'd originally planned for Harumi. An unknown motive, that certain reviewers proved could be guessed, but wasn't glaringly obvious.

I'll try to get the next chapter out without too long of a wait, but as usual no promises. On that topic, I actually have to apologize slightly for this one even. I've been sitting on a completed draft of this chapter for days now. It's just that the combined draw of Mass Effect 3, my Game of Thrones season 1 blu-ray, and a new season of Doctor Who on Netflix kept me so occupied I only just got around to cleaning it up and posting it.

That said, we're pulling into the final act, so I'm hoping that will give me the motivation to keep up a good pace on my writing.


	14. Intermission

Anko was enjoying this extended mission even more than she thought she would. She'd been expecting to have to fight for every scrap of training she could get, but she found there was no such shortage in sight. Even when Orochimaru had been her sensei, he'd been somewhat stingy at times, using training more as a reward for pleasing him than something to be done for its own benefit.

Certainly they were holding back of great deal of their best jutsu from Anko, but between her three companions, they knew so many that even their scraps felt like a feast. Orochimaru may have made collecting jutsu a life goal, but Naruto and Harumi in particular were veritable libraries of techniques that put even him to shame.

She'd quickly discovered that Harumi's knowledge was much more traditional for a ninja, designed for combat and stealth right from the start. Even so, it was training with Naruto she looked forward to the most, and not just for the better eye candy. True a lot of what he showed her didn't have immediately obvious applications in a fight, but figuring out just how to use it was part of the fun.

More importantly, most of his knowledge contained crazy abilities no one else in the ninja world had ever seen before. Her whole style was built around being unpredictable, so stuff like that was solid gold to her.

Now if only she had as much luck with Naruto himself as she did with his training. The more time she spent around him, the more convinced she was she'd like to at least give it a shot with him and see how things went. Naruto, however, could put any mule to shame in his stubbornness on the subject. Still, he at least grew more comfortable around her over time. She figured she could wear him down eventually, especially with Harumi doing her best to prod him along as well.

Until then, at least he was fun to tease. For a guy as old as he was supposed to be, who had children of his own, you'd think he could handle flirting a little better. Then again, she supposed his reaction was part of his charm. Speaking of charm, Anko knew she had more then her own fair share, so it really just became a question of how much longer Naruto could hold out against it.

* * *

As far as her career was concerned, Naruko had been doing absolutely great since breaking off from Naruto. Her team was succeeding on mission after mission with flying colors, even as the average difficulty of them was steadily being increased. Then there was the fact that she'd actually completed Kushina's challenge and made jonin within the year, even if only just in time. The fact that Sasuke and Neji were promoted at the same time did little to diminish her pride, even if the former of the pair spoiled her mood more than a little that day.

For the most part, she was enjoying her life as well. Actually having friends and spending time with them made for a much better time than the last few faded fragments of memories from Naruto indicated he'd had anytime recently. There was, of course, one huge black spot that prevent her life from being truly idyllic. She had yet to admit the truth of her origins to her friends.

One the one side, Kushina kept encouraging her to get it all out in the open. She claimed it was best to get it all out as quickly as possible. Shikamaru on the other hand was even more adamant that she put it off longer if she wanted the best chance of forgiveness. Minato stood right in the middle, saying that it was up to her when and if to tell them, and that their may not be a right answer.

Almost as if to relieve the stress of her silence, very early on she'd revealed to Kushina and Minato virtually every piece of information she could dredge up on Naruto. His origin and relationship with the Biju. Who exactly Harumi was. What she knew about Naruto as a person. She could no longer go into much detail about what he'd been doing most of his life, as those memories had long since escaped her, but she'd spent enough time contemplating the Biju that her own memories covered those basics.

That particular piece of intelligence, Minato quickly swore her never to reveal without authorization. Which was really just what she needed, more secrets. She understood the reasoning that made this so highly classified, but job description or not, she was sick of keeping things from her friends. She didn't know how much longer she'd be able to listen to Shikamaru as it was, no matter how well reasoned his arguments.

Naruko was near the breaking point of her patience. It was going to be sooner rather than later that she brought her friends into the loop.

* * *

At times, Hinata could hardly remember how bad her life had been early on in the academy. It all seemed like a bad dream. Ever since the day Naruko had confronted her, Hinata's life seemed to be getting nothing but better. She'd made three wonderful friends that day and the improvements hadn't even stopped there.

Her greatest fear of being separated from her friends completely had been put to rest when she was placed on Naruko's team. Certainly she'd been secretly hoping two of her three friends would make the team, but honestly if only one of them could, she was happy it was Naruko. Not that she felt Ino or Sakura were any less of true friends than Naruko was, but Naruko had always held a special place in her heart, if only because she was the one who'd actually first approached her.

As time had passed, she'd become grateful that only Naruko had joined her team, as it let her gain yet another friend. Kiba might be a little … difficult … at times, but he was a good and loyal teammate, and these days it was hard to think of anyone else taking his place.

Then there were her teachers. Getting trained by the Yondaime himself was something more than a few ninja had let known they were jealous of, but more even than the prestige was simply how great he and his wife were at teaching. Between their lessons, and Naruto and Kiba's encouragement, she'd been able to get more out of herself than she'd ever thought possible.

She'd been promoted to chunin during her first uninterrupted exam. Even her father had started to notice her improvement. Not that he said as much, but it was easy to tell simply by how quiet he was on the subject. Sure he occasionally brought up how Neji was showing more promise, but other than that, he hardly criticized her at all. That proved to be a huge weight off her back.

Hinata may never truly make her father proud, but for the first time in her life, she didn't feel like a complete disappointment. Yes, Hinata could hardly be happier with how her life was going. That just motivated her to work all the harder. She was determined to do everything in her power not to let anyone take from her what she'd finally achieved.

* * *

It was a very odd feeling for Naruto to be working on a goal other than the one he'd been focusing on for centuries. Yet Harumi had convinced him of the dangers Madara posed should he accomplish his goals. Not that it took all that much convincing. It was due to Naruto's actions that Biju were in the state they were, and as far as he was concerned, that made it his responsibility to keep their power from being abused.

That's why he'd been getting a crash course in ninjutsu and fighting ninja in general. He hadn't had any one else train him to fight since he'd been learning the sword with the samurai, so it was something of a novel experience. An experience that was only enhanced by his present company. Well, Itachi might not be much of a conversationalist, and Anko was, if anything, too much of a conversationalist. Or at least her choice of topics left something to be desired.

Nevertheless, Itachi's reserved nature, and Anko's lewd behavior aside, they weren't at all unpleasant to be around most of the time. Not to mention that whatever flaws they had were more than countered by having Harumi back in his life. He'd enjoy their time together even more when they could focus their efforts back on breaking Naruto's tie to the Biju. Even though that wasn't their goal, he still had an endless stream of ideas inspired by all the new jutsu he was learning.

First, however, came dealing with Madara, a topic they had no clear solution to yet. Madara had yet to make his move, but considering there were nine Biju and only four of them, the math simply didn't add up to playing defensively. Naruto didn't quite agree with Harumi's desire to destroy the Biju completely, but it looked like they would have to take a much more aggressive approach. After all, if they only eliminated Madara, it would all be over.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

I know, after an extended break it's pretty pathetic to have barely 1,500 words of actual story. One of the big reasons for this delay is that for the first time ever, I actually threw out a partially written chapter because I just felt it was garbage. The main problem was, I knew since I started how I wanted the story to end. It was just getting difficult to write a way to connect where they are to where I want them to be.

In trying to come up with a way to get all the pieces in place just as I wanted them, I somehow ended up with a story that was both dull and overly contrived. Some of the decisions were just a bit too forced and nothing felt very exciting or important. So I threw it all out and started fighting with the planning all over again. It was difficult, but I'm pleased to say I think the new blueprint is greatly improved, and I didn't even have to sacrifice the ending I wanted.

There is one small silver lining to this short chapter, however. And that's the following news. I went back and wrote this intermission when the next chapter was about 90% finished. I decided I wanted something to cover a few key characters instead of just time skipping two years. That said, you should have a much longer chapter coming pretty soon.

Even having to make a few small adjustments to account for what I wrote here, if it takes me a full week to finish it, I'll be very surprised.


	15. Chapter 14

Naruko had made her decision. No matter what Shikamaru advised, she was going to reveal the truth to her friends. Unfortunately, simply deciding to do so didn't make it happen. She was determined to get this all over with in one go, and with her friends split onto three different teams, it was proving exceedingly difficult to get them all in the village at the same time.

It got to the point where she was strongly considering leaning on Minato to help her out with the scheduling. Instead, Naruko returned from a mission one morning and found, to her surprise, that Ino and Sakura were already there. She wasted no time setting up a meeting for noon that day, not wanting to risk a departure. So she found herself waiting in an empty training ground as her audience arrived.

Hinata and Kiba were the first two there. Well, three counting Akamaru. For the longest time she hadn't even considered telling Kiba. She still wasn't exactly thrilled with his personality, as he'd yet to get over the immature reveling in the fact he was on a team with two good looking kunoichi. Even so, Naruko had come to respect that when it was really important, you could hardly ask for a more reliable or loyal teammate. So she felt he deserved to know the truth, even if she gave it even odds that his mouth would leave her regretting that decision before this was over.

Ino and Shikamaru arrived shortly thereafter, and one look at the latter told Naruko she was right to tell Ino to drag him here by force if necessary. Considering the major role he played in this, there was no way she was letting him weasel out of this. Naruko soon began wishing that Ino had been the last to arrive, as her friend was showing patience was not her strongest point as she pressed for details as to why Naruko had called them there. Finally, Naruko did spot Sakura coming in the distance, but frowned when she saw that young chunin was not alone.

"What are you doing here?" she yelled out to Sasuke, not even waiting for him to reach the group.

"When Sakura announces she won't be able to make a training session because she has something important to discuss with you, that tends to grab my interest," he responded coolly. "Especially when I have an idea of what this is about."

"Well, you're not invited, so get out of here," Naruko insisted crossly.

"Considering who you're telling, do you really think I won't be able to find out exactly what you had to say even if I'm not here?" Sasuke asked with an arrogant smirk.

Glancing over at Ino and Sakura she saw the former putting on her best poker face while the latter was refusing to meet her gaze. For reasons Naruko couldn't understand, the two of them were just as crazy for Sasuke as ever. Still, if she really drilled it home to them that she didn't want them to say anything to Sasuke then she could probably trust them to keep quiet, assuming Sasuke didn't get too manipulative. Ah forget it. There was a good chance he'd find out somehow or another anyway, and arguing just gave her more time for second thoughts.

"Fine," she sighed. "You can stay. Kiba's already here anyway. Telling you can't be any worse than telling him."

"Hey," Kiba complained, but Naruko ignored him, wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible.

"Anyway, I called you here to make a confession," she began. "I came to the village under false pretenses. At first I was working for Naruto, put here in an attempt to acquire as many of Konoha's jutsu as I could."

From the looks on their faces, she'd caught everyone but Shikamaru off guard with that. It was Kiba who first recovered enough to talk.

"You were what though, four at the time?" he asked. "No one's going to call a little girl doing a favor for her big brother a spy."

"Yeah," Sakura agreed. "Especially when you did side with Konoha over Naruto."

"That doesn't mean much," Sasuke interjected. "Considering Naruto's actions were part of a Konoha ploy all along, Naruko could have just been acting out her part at his bequest."

Sasuke didn't look at all guilty suggesting that right to her face. Although she had no idea where he came up with that notion, as Naruko knew for a fact that Naruto's actions had been quite sincere.

"Where do you hear a story like that from?" Kiba asked skeptically, mirroring Naruko's own thoughts.

"Only from the Sandaime himself," he answered smugly.

Naruko didn't know what game the old man was playing that would make him say that, but Naruko decided it wiser not to correct him. It might make Sasuke jump to the wrong conclusions and pester her about it, but how was that any different from how he normally behaved?

"Whatever her brother did, Naruko isn't like that," Hinata declared surprisingly firmly. She wasn't as meek as she used to be, but Hinata would never be mistaken for a boisterous person. So the strength of her support right now was quite touching, although Naruko wondered if it would withstand hearing the full story.

"The situation is more complicated than you realize," Naruko declared, cutting into the debate and setting things back on track. "I'm not really Naruto's sister, half or otherwise. I'm actually a special type of permanent clone he created. So I was fully aware of the implications of what I was doing, even back then."

Naruko could hardly believe she'd gotten through that as eloquently as she'd managed, and it was no surprise that even her earlier admission hadn't prepared them at all for this revelation. Once again, Kiba was the first to find his voice, even if his inclusion was almost an afterthought, she still was filled with trepidation about what he had to say.

"Wait, so all your memories and knowledge were from Naruto?" Kiba asked curiously.

"Yes," Naruko answered, not sure where this was going.

"So you're basically a guy trapped in a girl's body?" Kiba asked. "Does that mean you really do like girls?"

Naruko had been giving her teammate far too much credit. Even after all this time he'd still just come right out and ask that? Meanwhile Hinata was turning beet red, as if all the shame Kiba should have felt for saying that had somehow transferred to her.

"All the memories I received from Naruto have long since faded," Naruko answered sharply. "I've only ever known this body and I'm perfectly comfortable in it, thank you very much."

"Still, your original psyche was based off of Naruto's," Shikamaru interjected. "That must have had a huge impact on the formation of your current personality. So it really doesn't answer his original question."

"After the bombshell Naruko just dropped on us, you two idiots focus on this?" Ino snapped loudly at them, speaking up after holding her silence far longer than Naruko would have anticipated. "The real question is why she's been lying to us for years?"

Naruko cringed at the accusation, having feared just such a response.

"That's because I told her to," Shikamaru answered, holding his ear as if to protect it from another high volume verbal assault. "She's been wanting to tell you from the beginning, but I kept making her put it off because I just knew you'd make my life miserable once all this got out."

Naruko was surprised to see the boy voluntarily sticking his neck out like that, but it did little to calm Ino.

"So you trusted his advice over your own friends?" Ino demanded of her. "You kept everyone else in the dark?"

"I told Minato-sensei," Naruko answered weakling, stumbling over what to say. If there was some secret right answer, however, this wasn't it.

"Of course you did," Ino told her sharply. "But you didn't trust us enough to tell us as well."

"I trust you completely," Naruko insisted, a sense of panic really starting to sink in as the whole conversation continued to deteriorate. "I just wanted time to prove you could trust me."

"Lying to us is a funny way to prove that," Ino fired back. "Are you even telling us everything now, or is there more you're hiding?"

Naruko winced at that. There was obviously things she was holding back, regarding Naruto and Minato's origins, and she desperately wanted to reveal it all to Ino to try to salvage there friendship if there was still any chance of that. But Minato had sworn her to secrecy regarding that, and her training and self control proved just barely enough to resist the temptation.

"There is more," she admitted, "but I've told you everything I'm actually allowed to say."

"And we're supposed to take your word on that?" Ino queried sarcastically. "I mean you've given us so much evidence of just how honest and forthcoming you are."

"What she's holding back is probably related to the Yondaime himself," Shikamaru posited in an attempt to pacify the angry blonde.

"Actually, my money is on it involving Orochimaru," Sasuke countered.

"You know, you may actually be right," Shikamaru replied thoughtfully. Even in the midst of the depression that was setting in she could almost see the wheels turning in his head and had to wonder just how much more of their secrets he'd manage to piece together out of seemingly nothing.

"I don't care who it's about," Ino exclaimed loudly. "Since you're not ready to stop holding back and tell us everything, I don't want to hear it. Until that changes, I'm out of here."

Sparing Naruko one more angry glare, Ino stormed off. She started after the other blonde, but Sakura grabbed her arm, stopping her from doing so.

"Just give her some time," Sakura said. "She's probably more upset that you didn't tell her first than she is that you kept secrets to begin with."

"She's mad that I went to Shikamaru instead of her?" Naruko asked slightly confused by the thought. "He'd already managed to ferret some of it out himself. Plus, I don't actually care what he thinks about me."

"Thanks for that," Shikamaru muttered from where he sat, although Naruko couldn't actually tell if he was really offended.

"I know that, and Ino probably even realizes it herself," Sakura continued, "but she can be really pigheaded at times. Don't worry though. She'll come around eventually. If she takes too long, I'll pound some sense into that thick head of hers."

"I can talk to her too," Hinata offered helpfully. "I know how hard it can be to admit certain things to those you care about."

Naruko was touched by how her two friends were supporting her so readily. After Ino had exploded, she'd really feared the worst. She couldn't truly be happy with the result as long as the estrangement lasted, but with Sakura and Hinata backing her up, at least she could hold it together and try to win her final friend back.

"Meh, you're all just over-thinking it anyway," Kiba declared. "You have to trust your instincts. She's one of us. What does it even matter the circumstances behind that?" Akamaru barked in what she assumed was agreement.

Well, that was good news. Even if she personally cared more about Ino's reaction than Kiba's, at least there didn't seem to be any hard feelings on her own team, which bode well for her continued survival. They weren't exactly doing D class missions anymore, and teamwork was essential if you didn't want things to go horribly wrong. Of course just when she was starting to cheer up again, Sasuke had to butt in, as he stood up and made his way closer to her.

"You're probably too much of a mess to get anything worthwhile out of right now," he told her. "But make no mistake, you will be hearing from me again shortly, and now that I know you're not in the dark, I'm not going to leave you alone until I have the answers I want."

With that Sasuke departed as well, but unlike with Ino, Naruko had no intention of stopping him. Their most recent reduction in numbers didn't last long as Sasuke was quickly replaced by a new figure. Much to her surprise, Minato was now standing in front of her.

"I'm sorry to cut this short," he began. "I gave you more time than I probably should to finish this, but a mission has come up that's somewhat urgent. I hope you're feeling up to it."

"A mission could be just what I need right now," Naruko informed him, actually relishing the thought of something else to focus on. Not rookies any longer, both Sakura and Shikamaru knew enough to make themselves scarce, leaving Minato free to address his team without anyone else to overhear.

"That's good to hear," he replied. "As for the mission, we invited the Kazekage to Konoha for some diplomatic negotiations. However, he was scheduled to arrive hours ago. I believe something may have happened to him and need the three of you to search for any clues as to just what that may be."

"If there's anything to find, we'll find it," Kiba boasted, not an emptily for once given they were one of the most effective tracking teams out there despite their inexperience. "Still, if it's only a few hours they're probably just stopping to see the sights or something on the way."

"That would be ideal," Minato replied. "But the negotiations were just a pretense to begin with. We had intelligence indicating the Kazekage was being targeted. As you're aware, Suna was greatly weakened during the failed invasion. We simply felt Konoha could offer better protection, but used the ruse in case he didn't agree."

"Weakened or not, who could target a kage in the middle of his own village?" Kiba inquired.

"A criminal organization by the name of Akatsuki," Minato answered. "They're some of the most dangerous ninja in existence, so yes, they're capable of doing just that."

"Are you sure we can handle the mission in that case?" Hinata asked nervously.

"They're professionals," he told them. "If it really is Akatsuki, I expect they'll be long gone by the time you arrive. You're job is to merely find what evidence you can of a fight and any clues as to who was involved. Suna will not take kindly to their leader disappearing and we want to pass on whatever information we can to avoid the blame falling on us. Still, this mission is not without risks. If you do encounter anyone, I'll let you use your own judgment as to how to proceed. That said, I strongly suggest that judgment leans toward discretion."

Naruko was still curious as to just what Akatsuki was after, but she had an idea of what that might be. "Is the Kazekage a jinchuriki?" she asked him.

"Whatever you heard, I hope it was from Naruto," Minato said with a frown. "Because everyone who knows enough to guess that in Konoha should know how to keep their mouths shut better than that."

"It was from Naruto," she confirmed, which seemed satisfy Minato.

"Yes he is," the man finally confirmed. "Although I hope the three of you realize that all of this information is top secret. No one else hears this without authorization. Now, the three of you need to move out while the trail is still fresh. They should have been taking the main road from Suna, so start your search there. Dismissed."

Nodding, all three of them set a quick pace toward the path that would lead to Suna. In little time they were out of the village and speeding and speeding through miles of road. Naruko did her best to stay focused on the mission, not just as a distraction from other concerns, but because if Akatsuki really was involved, she couldn't afford anything but her undivided attention on the task at hand.

"So how much do you know about this Akatsuki group anyway?" Kiba asked, proving Naruko wasn't the only one with her mind on them.

"I know that their primary goal has something to do with the Biju," Naruko answered. "And if rumors are true it was founded by Uchiha Madara."

"Isn't he supposed to be long dead?" Kiba queried. "If the organization is that old, how come we're only hearing about them now?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," she replied. "I can't tell you anything about the current membership or much of anything else of use."

"How did Naruto know about them?" Hinata asked, breaking her way into the discussion.

"He has an interest in Biju as well," she explained. "So it was inevitable they'd cross paths eventually."

"Is he a jinchuriki himself?" Hinata inquired as a followup, almost causing Naruko to miss a step.

"No," she told Hinata simply, which was technically true even if he was very similar in nature to one.

Still, Naruko was starting to develop a rather strong distaste for keeping things from her friends. She was determined that as soon as she got back to Konoha she was going to press Minato for permission to tell them everything. For now, she needed to focus on the mission as something was tickling her senses just barely in range of her being able to pick it up.

"I think there's something going on ahead," she warned her team.

"Are you sure?" Kiba asked. "I'm not getting anything."

A surge in power from the direction she was sensing made the point moot, as she was sure Hinata and Kiba both easily picked that up.

"Let's go," she ordered as she picked up her pace. It looked as if they might just be in time after all. She just hoped that was a good thing. Naruko tried to force that thought aside. She had faith in her team, and they'd be aided by the Kazekage and whatever guards he brought with him that were still alive.

Given they were running along a road with nothing but open plains along it, Naruko feared they'd have no cover on their approach, ruining the opportunity for a surprise assault. Geography, however, was on their side as the road went up an incline just before the source of the powerful energy she assumed was the Kazekage drawing on the Biju's power.

Reaching the peak of the hill, she saw Gaara and his two siblings. Planning to get the jump on whomever they were fighting, she was shocked to find no sign of the signature Akatsuki cloak. Instead, there stood two people near the bottom of the list of those she expected to see. Naruto and Anko of all people.

She stopped in her tracks trying to make sense of the situation. Gaara's sister, Temari, was out cold, and his brother, Kankuro, appeared to barely be able to stand, being surrounded by broken pieces of his own puppets. Gaara still looked uninjured, as did both Naruto and Anko. Had Naruto already chased off Akatsuki?

"Reinforcements?" Gaara asked bitterly, only confusing Naruko further. "Don't think that will change my mind."

"It doesn't have to be like this," Naruto replied to Gaara, keeping an eye on Naruko but otherwise ignoring her entrance. "I assure you I can remove the Ichibi without harming you. We can then disperse the creature preventing Akatsuki from getting their hands on it for years to come. It's the most surefire way to stop them."

"It's power is needed to protect my people," Gaara answered firmly. "I won't give it up to you or Akatsuki. If they do try to take it from me, then I will end the threat permanently for you."

Well, at least they were kind enough to give her a good idea of just what was going on here. Naruto was meddling into things he shouldn't be.

"Our orders are to see the Kazekage reaches Konoha safely," Naruko announced. "If you don't cease your current aggression toward him we will stop you by force."

"Do you want to teach the brats to mind their own business, or should I?" Anko asked Naruto, her body language making it crystal clear she preferred the latter.

"I suppose it's better to let you handle that than keep dealing with the Suna contingent," Naruto mused. "Maybe if your opponents are from your own village you'll at least think twice about using moves designed to maim them."

"No promises," Anko replied as she started making her way toward Naruko.

She was in for a surprise if she thought she could handle them by herself. Unlike Naruko, Anko wasn't even a full jonin. Naruko was confident she could win even without her team's support. Naruto was a much larger concern, but if they finished this quickly, they might just be able to handle him with Gaara's help.

With that plan in mind, she didn't wait for Anko to make the first move, instead sprinting toward the woman herself. It was a testament to the rapport they'd developed that Hinata and Kiba didn't even miss a beat as they moved in to aid her.

Anko stood her ground and prepared for the upcoming collision due to Naruko's charge. It never came, as the whole maneuver was simply a feint, as became evident when Naruko pivoted a few feet from Anko, changing course and circling around to Anko's right. While she was moving, she was already preparing blades of wind which she shot off at Anko from point blank range.

She worried momentarily that she might have gone too far, as the technique could be quite deadly, but Anko managed to weave around them even with how little room she had to do so. At the very least it didn't exactly leave her in the best defensive position, a situation Kiba and Akamaru were already attempting to exploit as the pair charged in side by side along the same path Naruko had originally taken.

Off balance as she was, Anko was forced to retreat a few steps to avoid being overwhelmed by the teen and his large canine companion, backing her toward where Hinata was waiting for just such an opportunity. The Hyuga girl thrust out her palm at the undefended back, leading Naruko to speculate the fight might already be over, given what juken could do with a blow like that.

A puff smoke put a quick end to that idea as Anko's body was replaced by a writhing mass of snakes all lunging at Hinata. Thankfully she was able to start a kaiten spin quickly enough to defend herself, destroying the summons in a second puff of smoke. It was a good thing Hinata had been the one to spring that trap Anko had probably been leading them into right from the start. Naruko quickly located Anko standing in the grass a short distance away, smirking at them. She'd underestimated the woman. It had been foolish to think she wouldn't improve herself in her time away from Konoha.

"Watch for any other snakes hiding in the grass," Naruko ordered. "Those summons were probably waiting there all along until Anko switched places with a kawarimi. And don't hold anything back this time. Hit her hard with everything you've got."

"You little twerps were holding back against me?" Anko asked in response to Naruko's orders, her smirk turning a bit less friendly. "I don't take kindly to brats barely out of school looking down on me like that."

Naruko ignored her, instead waiting as Kiba and Akamaru each popped a pill, beginning their transformations, a much more extreme one in Akamaru's case. When both of them were visually indistinguishable, Naruko began another assault. Naruko was fortunate that both Minato and she were best suited to the wind element, as he'd been an excellent source of new jutsu. She now put his training to good use against Anko, sending an assault that would be deadly even to most ninja against her.

Meanwhile, Hinata was engaging in close combat while Kiba and Akamaru's gatsuga created a constant threat of severe physical trauma for their opponent. Their teamwork was in top form today too, which was a relief because Naruko couldn't afford to hold back in fear of hitting her own teammates. She'd been worried about Kiba, as he'd been sloppy in training lately, but he always seemed to be the type that thrived in actual danger. He must have recognized this as such as he was fighting better than she'd ever seen him before, somehow being more ferocious while still staying perfectly in step with their practiced assault pattern.

They were hitting Anko hard without letting up, but their former examiner didn't seem to understand the concept of a defense, no matter how much they pressed her. Or at the very least she considered the best defense to be a constant supply of surprise counterattacks and dirty tricks. Even though they appeared to have the upper hand, there were far too many close calls for Naruko's comfort.

Not that Anko's strategy wasn't taking a toll on her own body, as she was already sporting several shallow cuts along her arms from where she'd chosen to try to eviscerate Hinata rather than deal with Naruko's own wind blades attack. Even as determined as she was to stop Naruto and Anko, her intent had never been to seriously injure another Konoha ninja, but the way Anko was fighting, Naruko feared this may turn into a fight to the death, regardless of her wishes.

Well, if that had to happen, she was glad that it was looking to be a fight they would win. Anko kept proving to be far more skilled than Naruko had anticipated, but four against one was obviously just too much for her. But she couldn't get careless. It wasn't always the stronger side that won, and Anko was good at being surprising. This was evidenced almost as soon as the thought had crossed her mind when Anko foreswore her frenzied assault for once and leaped back, firing off a fire jutsu as she did.

While breathing out the stream of fire, she swept it back and forth in front of them, creating a wall of flame that blocked her from their vision. Immediately her team backed away from the fire, Kiba and Akamaru temporarily halting their gatsuga to appraise the situation. As insane as she was, they were probably expecting the same as Naruko, that she would jump through her own fire in an attack meant to catch them off guard. Instead the fire died down and they saw Anko still standing behind it, smile unbroken by the fight so far.

"You're actually pretty good," she said pointing at Naruko. "Your teammates on the the other hand, aren't anything special."

This earned twin growls from Kiba and his temporary doppelganger.

"You work well together, I'll give you that," Anko admitted, then starting moving as she continued. "But I bet if I really try it's not too hard to finish one of them off."

Naruko's heart skipped a beat as she realized Anko was headed straight for Hinata while giving off a killing intent several times larger than any she'd yet sported this fight. She was completely serious now and fully intended to kill Hinata. Not about to let that happen, Naruko fired off several wind blades while running on an intercept course. Anko easily weaved around them without losing a step, and continued to do so no matter what Naruko tried.

Giving up on that strategy, Naruko devoted her entire focus on speed, determined to reach Anko in time to defend Hinata, but to her dismay, Anko's own speed surpassed any she'd yet shown and it became clear that Naruko wouldn't catch her in time. She was silently willing Hinata to run from the other woman, as Anko was already being too close for a verbal warning to have any effect.

Whatever talents Hinata did possess, telepathy wasn't one of them, as her friend showed no sign of doing so. She was probably preparing another kaiten, which was not nearly as comforting a thought as it should have been.

Anko had already seen the defense several times in the fight and she wasn't stupid. The defense was not invulnerable, and if Anko didn't think she could break it, she would have gone for Kiba instead. Add to that the fact that her already impressive killing intent was growing by the moment, and Naruko's fear was fast approaching panic levels.

With Anko only a few feet from Hinata, and Naruko charging in from the side several feet further back, she was becoming desperate, putting everything into firing off one last barrage of wind blades. They wouldn't reach Anko in time to stop her attack, but Naruko hoped that it might get through the bloodlust that was practically radiating from Anko and force her to break off her attack for her own safety. In the state the rogue tokubetsu jonin was in, Naruko doubted she'd even notice anything outside of her prey. Still, that sliver of hope combined with the desire to make Anko pay in full if she harmed Hinata pushed her to give everything she had in this final assault.

As much as her mind railed against the thought, she fully expected to see some secret attack of Anko's overcoming Hinata's kaiten while Naruko's own jutsu tore the treacherous woman to shreds. Instead, Anko pivoted 90 degrees with astonishing agility, barely having to dodge any of Naruko's wind blades that had all been aimed at where Anko would be if she'd continued her current path. Meanwhile, the desperation of her own attack had left her woefully unprepared to defend herself.

Naruko's own momentum carried her closer to where Anko was lashing out with a fist glinting in the light from the three well polished kunai held between her fingers like a set of claws. Naruko had fallen completely for Anko's trap and now could think of nothing to prevent herself from being cut open. As upset as she was that she'd probably just gotten herself killed, she was still relieved that it wasn't Hinata who would pay would the price for failure.

The tips of the blades were only inches from her chest when they suddenly flew off to the right without so much as cutting her clothing. For an instant, Naruko thought that Anko had pulled her attack after all, until she saw it wasn't just the fist, but Anko's whole body that was flying off, tumbling briefly before Anko righted herself and skidded to a stop a couple dozen yards away or so. There was little confusion as to what had caused it, as Hinata was standing in the space that had previously been occupied by Anko, fist still extended.

"That was awesome!" Kiba called out enthusiastically, from where he'd been attempting his own rescue of Hinata. "But how did you know she was going to change her target? She'd looked seriously determined to kill you."

"That's what I'd like to know," Naruko added, eying Anko warily from where she stood, hesitant to try to press their advantage until she was sure she wasn't falling for another of her ploys. "You didn't even try to defend yourself. If she hadn't changed course, you could have been killed."

"It was her eyes," Hinata answered a little sheepishly at the combined praise and concern she was receiving from her teammates. "They were a little too focused. If she'd really be planning to attack me, there would have been minor movements in her focus as she searched for weaknesses and tried to anticipate how I would react. My father trained me to notice things like that, so I was pretty sure she wasn't going to actually attack me."

"So, how many tenketsu did you just close off?" Naruko asked her, hoping Hinata had just put Anko at a serious disadvantage.

"I was too concerned with stopping her attack to do much in that regard," Hinata answered apologetically. "But I doubt she'll be able to use any chakra in her right arm for a while."

"Hah, only you could say that as if you'd done something wrong," Kiba told her, growing a large smile. "We already had her on the ropes, she's all but beaten now."

"I would like to remind you of something you seem to be forgetting," Anko cut in. "I enjoyed playing with you, but I never actually had to beat you to win."

Naruko instantly knew what she was referring to. Their goal had been Gaara. She'd been too focused on her own fight to spare any attention to that one, but could Naruto have really beaten the Kazekage this quickly? Or was this simply a ploy to get her to look away? The moment's hesitation cost her whatever chance she may have had to defend herself, as she was bowled over from behind, having her face planted in the grass.

She righted herself as quickly as she could, but she found Naruto had already knocked Akamaru out cold, with the poor dog having returned to his own form and now stood over where Kiba lay flat on his back with a foot resting on Kiba's chest and a sword pointed at his neck. A quick glance made it doubtful they'd be receiving any help from the Kazekage, who was still conscious, but struggling unsuccessfully to even stand. Hinata hadn't been touched in Naruto's attack, but was frozen in place from the sword's implied threat.

"Just give up and go home," Naruto ordered her. "You can't stop us, so there's no need to get yourselves hurt."

"Don't worry about me, just stop him," Kiba called out, not attempting to free himself despite his words.

"No need to be so dramatic," Naruko told him. "He's not going to seriously hurt you no matter what we do."

Movement out of the corner of her eye caught Naruko's attention, and she started to call out a warning, but it wasn't in time to stop Anko from sneaking up behind Hinata while she was focused on Kiba.

"You may be right about Naruto not having it in him," Anko agreed from where she now stood behind Hinata with a kunai pressed against her neck, "but I hope you're not foolish enough to think I'd hesitate to slice her neck open."

To emphasize her point, she drew the blade across Hinata's neck, creating a shallow cut that began to bleed. This drew an immediate growl from Kiba, who might have inadvertently done far worse to his own neck as he thrashed about if Naruto hadn't been so quick to adjust the positioning of his sword in reaction.

"Let her go! You already have me!" Kiba cried out in fury.

"Just go and finish up with sand boy over there," Anko directed him. "I'll make sure our own brats behave themselves."

Naruto nodded and release Kiba, walking over to where Gaara had yet to succeed in the simple act of standing up. Naruko glanced over to where a completely dejected looking Hinata was being held prisoner. Knowing Hinata, she was probably more depressed over putting her team in this situation then worried for her own safety.

Naruko considered for a moment trying to complete the mission anyway. After all, ninja were trained to put their lives on the line, and they were both from Konoha, so Anko might still be bluffing. She tossed that notion quickly enough, however. Anko didn't strike her at the bluffing type when it came to killing. And even if their victory was assured, Naruko wasn't certain she'd be able to sacrifice Hinata to achieve it.

Nor was their victory at all assured. On the contrary, with just the two of them against Naruto and the surprisingly skilled Anko, if the outcome was at all decided it was most certainly not in their favor. She'd just have to stay out of this and console herself in the fact that Naruto had no intention of actually killing Gaara.

Still, even if her mission had only been reconnaissance, and they might even bring Gaara back alive, she couldn't consider this anything but a failure.

* * *

Naruto approached the Kazekage, feeling a little guilt at the glare the beaten up village leader was giving him. He'd been pleased to see the boy had done so well for himself after Naruto had improved his seal, even if he couldn't be certain just how much of that he could take credit for. Now he was coming back to strip the Biju from him completely, and it didn't sit quite well him.

He was only halfway back when he sensed a new arrival appearing out of nowhere behind him. Spinning around, he confirmed that Madara had indeed teleported in, and was now standing in the middle of the whole group, once again wearing that odd mask of his.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked, feigning more surprise than he truly had.

"Come now," he replied. "We both have an interest in the Biju. Is it any surprise we'd cross paths from time to time?"

"Well, you're too late," Naruto announced, turning around and sprinting to Gaara, already starting a set of hand seals. "You're not getting this one."

As expected, Madara's presence winked out for a second, undoubtedly on his way to grab Gaara and teleport off, much as he'd done with the Nibi's host. Too bad for him that such an act was exactly what Naruto was hoping for. He'd just come within ten feet of Gaara when Madara had reacted, which put him in range of his new jutsu. Raising his palm to the air, a translucent blue dome appeared around Naruto and Gaara.

If it worked as planned, the field should affect Madara in such as way as to prevent him from teleporting for a few hours. If their luck was good, it might even react rather violently to his attempt to teleport inside while it was up. He'd see how that went in just a moment. Only Naruto quickly realized that Madara had not, in fact, appeared where he'd anticipated, but instead rematerialized even further back from where he'd previously been.

Spinning to face him as quickly as he could, Naruto was just in time to see him stab Naruko in the back with a needle. His former clone struggled weakly for a couple of seconds to retaliate before falling completely limp. A reaction that got nearly twin cries of 'Naruko' from her two teammates.

"Relax; she's fine," Madara declared as he lifted up her limp form. "This is just a little something Sasori whipped up for me that will keep her out for a few hours."

The two teens relaxed slightly at this, but still watched tensely, Hinata not even seeming to notice that Anko had released her, and was doing her best to sneak up behind Madara.

"As for you two," Madara declared, teleporting a dozen yards away with Naruko just in time to avoid Anko's attempted to stab him in the back and glaring at the slowly fading blue sphere, "that's a rather nasty looking trap. I can't imagine it would have gone well for me if I'd attempted to nab the Kazekage instead of the girl. It almost makes me wonder if this whole thing might have been planned for my benefit."

"The jutsu is certainly for you," Naruto admitted. "As for the rest, we were here first. You're the one who claimed it was just a coincidence that you showed up."

"No, I don't believe that," Madara replied. "You can actually sense Zetsu somehow, can't you? I'm not sure how, but that must be the case. So you figured out he was spying on you and planned this out hoping I would jump in to stop you."

Naruto sensed the slight disturbance in the ground's natural chakra begin to speed rapidly away in response to Madara's words, causing Naruto to curse silently. Thanks to the man being too clever by half, Naruto's mistake had given away both their advantages. He now knew about their new jutsu, and they could no longer feed his little spy exactly what they wanted to.

"Unfortunately for you, I was more interested in this little prize here," Madara continued, holding up Naruko's unconscious body. "One person with close ties to two of people most likely to interfere with my plans. You can keep the Ichibi as your reward for reminding me not to underestimate you, but if either you or the Hokage get in my way again … well I probably won't kill her right away. Still, let's just say that she won't appreciate your determination."

Not even waiting to see how they reacted to his threat, Madara was gone.

"Well, that went well," Anko said dryly. "Anyway, at least finish up with the Suna brat over there and let's move on to the next one. With him teleporting all over the place, we're already at a disadvantage. We can't afford to waste any time."

"Wait," Hinata called out to them in distress. "You're not going to go after other Biju are you? You heard what he'll do to Naruko if you do."

"I'm sorry," Naruto told her, truly meaning that, "but this is much bigger than one person. If I can find a way to rescue her, I will, but Madara simply has to be stopped."

"You can at least hold off for a little while, right?" Kiba pleaded. "Just give us some time and we'll find a way to save her."

"I can't promise that," Naruto told him, "but I will at least do my best to keep Madara from realizing I'm acting. Now you have a mission to finish, don't you? Just give me a minute with the girl first. Anko was a little too rough with her."

"She called me a slut," Anko said with a shrug. "I had to do that on principle. Anyway, aren't you forgetting something? You still need to extract and disperse the Ichibi."

"I never liked that plan to begin with," Naruto told her, as he leaned over Temari and let his energy sink into the girl, healing her wounds. "I kept quiet and played along hoping to trap Madara, but the ploy failed, so I'm letting him go. Besides, the Ichibi is the weakest of the Biju by far, and as you can see, Madara didn't seem terribly concerned with it. I say we let the Kazekage keep him. One more tool to use to stop that madman."

"That'd be a great plan, if we hadn't just beaten the guy up," Anko noted. "I doubt he's exactly in a helpful mood."

"Well it's true I'm not exactly thrilled to be attacked like this, I understand Madara is the greater threat," Gaara answered calmly, at some point regaining enough strength to stand and shakily make his way over to look down at where his sister was starting to stir under Naruto's administrations. "If you are aiming to stop him, then I will aid you as I can."

"Well then, it's no skin off my back if that's how you want to do it," Anko told him. "As long as you explain it to Harumi later."

"Fine," Naruto agreed, not too worried about that. "Anyway, I'm done here, so let's move out."

The two of them did just that as Naruto fell into deep thought, pondering just what their next move would be. Somehow, they needed to find a way to force Madara to stay and fight despite blowing the trump card intended to do just that, and they were running out of time to find a solution.

* * *

Madara reappeared in the large cave that was serving as Akatsuki's base. Currently, an unusually large contingent of members were present, although the reason was quickly clear. Two of the teams had successfully completed their missions, which explained the presence of Kakuzu, Hidan, Sasori, and Deidara. And of course Kisame had been the one assigned to guard their base.

"Four and seven, huh?" Madara noted with approval, spotting their pair of unconscious jinchuriki captives. "A very nice start."

"Who is that?" Kisame asked, pointed to where he held Naruko. "I don't remember her being one of the jinchuriki."

"This is the bait for little trap I'm going to set up," he answered with a smile, not that anyone would see it behind his mask. "Chain her up with the others, I'm going to start preparations for the extraction."

After handing over the girl, he began to do just that. Most of the real preparation he'd been working on for years. Researching ways to improve the jinchuriki seal for starters. But the most difficult part was adjusting his own chakra coils so that his system more closely resembled those of the Biju. If all went well, he'd merge at a level that surpassed that of any jinchuriki in history. The power of the Biju would be little more than supercharging his own chakra. No separate power source. No annoying side effects. And most importantly, he'd be able to access very nearly the full power of a freed Biju, rather than the fraction of it that a jinchuriki could normally use.

Even with just the pair in front of him, he would have enough power that he would no longer have reason to fear the likes of Harumi or the Yondaime. Perhaps not even Naruto. Unlike Harumi, he didn't know the depth of what that man was capable of. That combined with his unique ties to the Biju worried Madara. Maybe he was making a mountain out of a molehill, but his caution may have just saved his life in their most recent encounter, so he wasn't going to get reckless now.

It didn't even take an hour before are the seals were properly set up and everything had been double-checked. The six present members of Akatsuki were now gathered around the female jinchuriki captive who held the Nanabi. He was about to begin the procedure when he was interrupted by Sasori.

"You're going to settle for the Nanabi?" he asked. "I thought you'd want nothing less than the Kyubi for yourself. Perhaps you should let one of us have this one. I'd be more than willing."

"There's no need for me to be that greedy," he told them. "Besides, this is the first time I've put the theory of this new seal in practice. I'm confident that if anything is off I can make last minute adjustments on myself, but for anyone else, it may not go as smoothly. I'll work out the kinks on myself and have a much safer process for the remaining Biju."

Of course no matter what he did, they'd be killed outright without the chakra coil adjustments he'd been making to himself. But he had to keep them from turning on him for now, as he wasn't certain he could take all five of the assembled men at once. At least not without getting the prisoners killed in the process.

Well, if worse came to worst, he could grab the Nanabi's jinchuriki and teleport out. Maybe he could even get more prisoners, but he expected this lot would kill them the instant he left with the first of them just to spite him. Which would leave him the unenviable prospect of losing the other two captives and having to reproduce all the work he'd done in the cave to facilitate the process, so he was hoping he could still talk them down.

"I'd be willing to take that risk," Hidan declared. "It's not as if it would kill me if anything went wrong."

He could tell at a glance that the group was turning against him. He shouldn't be surprised they weren't dumb enough to trust him completely. Still, he figured it was a close thing, so he might still have a chance to save this.

"Fine," he told them as casually as he could. "If one of you wants to risk it, you can have the first shot. Anyone want to contest Hidan going first?"

When no one did he set to work creating a seal on Hidan. While the rest of them watched carefully, as he expected, none of them knew enough of seals to catch on the little trick he'd just worked out. The Biju would only pass through Hidan on its way to Madara rather than being sealed in him. Madara was counting on the feeling of the power passing through him would convince him it was working as intended, at least until it was safely sealed in himself.

Activating the seal, it began to work just as planned. The girl housing the Nanabi woke just long enough to let out one scream before going permanently still. Meanwhile the power began to flow into him, and Hidan gave no sign he was in any way the wiser. Just when it should be finishing up, however, the power actually surged, growing to a painful level. Madara had no idea what was going on until a laugh in his head tipped him off that this was the Kyubi's work.

"Something's wrong," Hidan declared, sounding a little nervous despite his oft proclaimed immortality.

Kyubi's assault continued to increase in ferocity, and Madara rushed for any idea of how to save himself. He hadn't planned for any way to quickly stop the procedure, never dreaming he'd need it, and he doubted he had more than moments until he was completely overwhelmed. He was preparing for the end when the attack halted even more suddenly than it had begun. The reason soon made itself clear as Hidan fell to the ground.

"He's dead," Kakuzu declared, shock evident in his voice.

That death had saved Madara's own life, as it had broken the link between him and the Kyubi. That whole thing had been too close. If his underlings had been a little less belligerent, it would be him lying lifeless on the floor.

"When you said it might not go smoothly, you weren't kidding," Kisame exclaimed.

"No, that was an attack by the Kyubi," Madara informed them. "I had no idea this was possible, but apparently the Biju share some connection that allowed him to use to Nanabi as a proxy for his strike. It seems we won't be able to make use of any of the other Biju until the Kyubi is taken care of."

"So what happened to the Nanabi?" Sasori queried, ignoring the dead Hidan to focus on what he really cared about.

"Dispersed by Kyubi in the process," he lied, having succeeded in sealing the beast in himself. "It should reform in a few years, but we've lost access to it until then."

"Convenient," Kakuzu declared suspiciously. "You don't get your way and the person who opposed you winds up dead? I say you were just afraid of one us getting the power of a Biju before you. Captured Kyubi or no, I don't expect a long life for anyone else who tries to collect their share of the prize before you. Not that it will be much longer than anyone who sits around and lets you go first."

Madara wished he could just kill the man right there, but Kyubi's attack had not left him unaffected. He'd come very close to death, and despite having the Nanabi, he was quite weak for the moment. Once he'd rested, however, he should have little need for any of these men.

"I'm as upset by this turn of events as you are," he claimed. "If you trust me so little, then leave. I'm the only one of us capable of extracting and resealing the Biju. So if you're convinced I'm going to kill you, there's not much point in sticking around. As for me, I'm going to start planning how to deal with the Kyubi."

Quickly teleporting away to a hidden spot only he knew of, he focused on recuperating. With the Nanabi secure, he was now far more powerful than ever. But this was only just the beginning of his plan.

* * *

Feeling a surge in the deeper parts of his inner being, Naruto stopped in his tracks, a fact that was immediately noted by Anko.

"What is it?" she asked curiously.

"The Kyubi is doing something big," he answered. "As best as I can tell, it's in reaction to Madara capturing one of the Biju, but I really don't know any details."

"Figures. How are we supposed to compete with someone who can jump all over the place whenever he wants?" Anko complained.

"We're probably not lucky enough for the Kyubi to finish him off for us, but at the very least, his attack helps us in another way," Naruto announced. "I now know exactly where our rogue Uchiha is. We may just be able to get the drop on him for once."

"Nice," Anko replied, clearly relishing the thought. "Just give me the details and I can send a snake off to tell Harumi and Itachi."

"No need," Naruto informed her, as he finished a rather complicated technique and sent off his message. "I just told Harumi everything they need to know."

"Long range telepathy?" Anko asked, raising an eyebrow. "Your bag of tricks really is endless isn't it?"

"Well, I haven't depleted it yet," Naruto answered with a smirk. "Anyway, Harumi hasn't quite got the hang of sending replies yet, but she'll have received the message loud and clear. So let's get going. If we get there before he leaves, we may be able to end this today."

* * *

Hinata followed closely behind Kiba as he burst into the Hokage's office, for once not trying to hold back his brash behavior. They'd barely taken the time to hand off the Kazekage and his siblings before sprinting here. Currently, Minato-sensei and Kushina were both present, not looking quite sure how to react to the interruption.

"Naruko has been captured," Kiba declared loudly. "We have to get her back."

"What?" Kushina cried out. "What happened? Was it Akatsuki?"

"It was a man they called Madara," Hinata answered. "He just appeared out of nowhere, used some sort of poison on Naruko, and then … they were both gone. Kiba's right, we have to do something."

"Everyone just calm down," Minato exclaimed, I can't do anything without more details. What happened with the Kazekage? Did Madara say anything that might indicate where he's going? Just tell me everything."

Hinata did just that, trying to get it finished as quickly and efficiently as possible so Minato-sensei could tell them how to fix everything. Despite frequent interruptions from Kiba adding in his own comments and Kushina insisting she go into further details on some points, she was soon through and waiting for Minato's orders.

"As much as I hate to say it, there's nothing we can do," Minato told them. "We don't know where they are, or what their next move will be. And before you ask, we can't even give in to their demands. We must do our best to stop Akatsuki regardless of the situation."

"Minato!" Kushina admonished him sharply at his last statement, giving Hinata some small hope she might change his mind."

"What?" Minato replied defensively. "You know that Konoha couldn't survive if it gave into demands as soon as someone took a prisoner. I don't like this any more than you, but that's how it is."

"I know that, as much as it drives me crazy right now," she admitted, quickly dashing Hinata's brief hope. "But there was no need to tell them that. This is hard enough on them as it is."

It seemed Minato-sensei and Naruto both planned to ignore the ultimatum. In which case, what hope was there for Naruko?

"I disagree," Minato answered. "They're both ninja of this village. They deserve to be told the truth, and I trust them to handle it."

"Well, here's something else that's the truth," Kushina exclaimed. "I don't know how yet, but I promise you that I will get Naruko back safely. And you can rest easy because I don't break my promises."

Hinata expected Minato to admonish her again for making such a baseless promise, but instead he was just looking at and smiling as if he completely believed her. It almost made Hinata want to do the same, but it was hard to have blind faith in a situation like this.

"Great," Kiba declared, seeming more sold by her vow than Hinata was. "Is there any way we can help?"

"You can start by having yourselves looked over at the hospital," Minato answered. "I can easily see that neither of you came out unscathed. I'll let you know if we come up with anything."

Nodding, the both of them left. As they walked out, Hinata continued to fall further into despair. If she'd only been better none of this might have happened. If she hadn't let herself be captured by Anko, perhaps Naruko would have been in a better position to defend herself against Madara. Now she may have lost Naruko, and on top of that, she faced the guilt of not even having appreciated her properly. Earlier that very day, when learning of Naruko's origins, she'd thought how it might have been nice if Naruto had chosen to make a male clone, instead of just being thankful for the best friend she could ask for.

"It's not your fault," Kiba declared, interrupting her thoughts in such a timely manner it was almost as if he'd been listening in on them. "Besides, you heard Kushina. We're going to get Naruko back. Not that I'm going to sit around and let her do everything. I'm already working on other angles."

Hinata was about to ask him what he meant, when they left the building and the question was answered for her. Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, and Sasuke were standing around Akamaru looking at them expectantly. She'd wondered where the large dog had gone off to.

"You couldn't have thought to write a note?" Sakura asked angrily. "I don't enjoy playing twenty questions with a dog, and all we've managed to get out of him so far was that you wanted us and it was about Naruko."

Sakura paused at this looking around and noticing the absence of the person in question. "She isn't ..." Sakura asked hesitantly turning white in fear.

"She's not dead, but she's been captured," Kiba answered, before turning sharply on Sasuke. "And what are you doing here? For someone who claims to not be able to stand Naruko, you sure like to stick your nose in her business."

"You have your mutt interrupt our practice to drag off my teammate," Sasuke replied with a shrug. "What do you expect me to do?"

Kiba looked ready to protest further, but Hinata cut him off. "It's alright, Kiba. He may be able to help us."

"You're right," Kiba agreed quickly. "Anyway, we need to figure out how to locate Naruko so we can rescue her."

"Aren't you supposed to be the tracking expert?" Sasuke asked. "Why didn't you just follow her yourself?"

"Brilliant," Kiba mocked. "Why didn't I think to follow the trail of the guy who teleported away. I'm glad you're here to point these things out."

"Let's stay focused," Sakura said diplomatically before Sasuke could fire back another retort. "Shikamaru, do you have any ideas how we could find her?"

Hinata looked at the boy hopefully. She'd been astonished more than a few times by the reasoning skills of the young chunin, and was fervently wishing that this might be another item for the list.

"Sorry, but I haven't a clue how to follow someone who can teleport around like that," he answered. "Since you already spoke to the Hokage, I assume he doesn't know either, which makes it unlikely anyone in the village does. Unless Ino has a family trick to locate Naruko, I think we're stuck."

All eyes turned to Ino, who'd been quiet so far. This was probably awkward for her, given her reaction to Naruko earlier in the day, but she trusted Ino completely to put that aside and help out when Naruko really needed her.

"At the range we're talking with no idea where she is?" Ino asked rhetorically. "I can certainly ask my father, but I haven't heard of anything that could help with that."

The group fell into silence at that, and you could almost feel an air of depression forming over everyone. It was at this point that they noticed Shino walking over to them.

"I'm sorry about us running out like that," Sakura told him, "but this is really serious. Naruko has been captured."

"I regret to be the one to inform you of this, but it's worse than that," Shino told them. "Naruko is almost certainly dead."

Hinata's cry of shock joined those of her companions, but it was Kiba who drowned them all out with his volume and got off a question. "What do you mean by that?" he asked. "There's no way you could know that."

"The kikai bug I had placed on her has returned," he explained. "It would not leave without my orders unless she'd perished."

Hinata felt tears rapidly forming in her eyes, as she desperately tried to find a reason to refute the claim.

"Is it possible that being teleported would disorient the bug, and cause it to return anyway?" Sakura asked him.

"It's more than possible. That's exactly how they would react to such a situation," Shino answered, leading to a collective sigh of relief among most of the assembled crowd.

"I can't believe you even bugged the Yondaime," Shikamaru declared, instantly recognizing the implications of his confident reply.

"I find it useful to be able to track those I associate with," Shino replied simply, not sounding at all apologetic.

"Wait, this is great!" Kiba shouted out. "This means you know right where they took Naruko! We need to go tell Minato-sensei!"

Running back in the building without a moment's hesitation, the rest of them could do little more than follow after him. Soon, Kiba was again bursting through the door to Minato's office.

"If you don't stop doing that I'll tell the guards to stop you, student or no," Minato told him, shaking his head.

"Shino knows where they took Naruko!" Kiba announced.

"Actually, as I would have told you if you had waited, kikai bugs don't think like humans," Shino responded. "They are unable to give any details of the location where she was taken."

"Then what use are they?" Kiba yelled at him in frustration.

"I do know the direction it came from," Shino answered calmly. "If you can tell me at what time the teleportation occurred, I can calculate approximately where it began its journey."

"It was shortly after 3 PM, Hinata quickly informed him," spirits rising for the first time since this had all started."

"Do you have a map of the Land of Fire, Hokage-sama?" Shino asked.

"Of course," he answered, quickly pulling one out.

"Then I believe Naruko was taken to somewhere in here," Shino told them, outlining a small ellipse with his finger.

"A base right in our own country," Kushina noted. "They sure have guts. I'll give them that."

"I have a station set up with seals for my hiraishin not far from there," Minato announced. "We can be in the marked area searching for the base in less than an hour. We may even get there before he has a chance to setup whatever trap I'm sure he's planning."

"Great! let's go," Kiba declared eagerly.

"You're not going anywhere," Minato told them. "Kushina and I will take care of this ourselves."

"No, you have to let me come!" Ino reacted before anyone else. "After everything I said to Naruko today, I can't just sit here and do nothing! If I don't at least try to help her, I'll never forgive myself."

Minato and Kushina's faces softened at this, and Kiba quickly took the initiative to get his own words in. "Yeah, and we're her teammates," he added motioning to Hinata. "Besides, you promised you'd do everything you could to help her. If you leave us behind, you're not doing everything."

"You know, we probably could take them," Kushina said to Minato.

"No, the level of opponents we're facing is just too high," he said firmly. "I'll take Sasuke, but he's the only one I'm convinced wouldn't just be a liability. The best thing the rest of you can do for Naruko is stay here so you won't be an extra distraction. And don't argue, because my decision is final, and you're only delaying our departure."

Hinata desperately wanted to go as well, even if she'd kept silent, but Minato-sensei was probably right. Still, Hinata joined some other jealous glares directed at Sasuke as he walked over to where Minato-sensei and his wife had turned to gather some supplies from the far wall. She wondered if he might have somehow sensed them doing so, as he stumbled a bit before joining the older ninja. Then Minato quickly grabbed him and Kushina and the three of them vanished.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

I think the size of this chapter might be a little more to everyone's liking that that little intermission from last week. Also, I apologize on that chapter for forgetting to go and put back in the line breaks on POV changes after the site inevitably eats them. I just uploaded a fix for that.

As for this chapter, yes, my the back story for Madara is quite different from canon. Just remember this is heavily AU. Anyway, the story is starting to draw toward its conclusion. Probably only one or two more chapters (not counting any epilogues) depending on how long the finale gets. Hopefully I can finish it up quickly, because I have another idea I'm dying to start on, but have been refusing to let myself. I'm determined to finish this one before I switch gears. Otherwise, experience shows I may never switch back.


End file.
